Common Dreams
by Dandy-red
Summary: Sanji dreamed big dreams, yet being only a teenager he had to go through the last year and a half of high school before he could start chasing them. Fortunate enough, high school was also the place where he met those people- ZOSAN, YAOI, AU
1. Prologue

**- Dreams are nothing, without hands to hold on to - **

Summary:

Sanji dreamed big dreams, yet being only a teenager he had to go through the last year and a half of high school before he could start chasing them. Fortunate enough, high school was also the place where he met those people. Those people with similar outrageous dreams that were out of their reach, for now at least.

Genre;

Adventure/fantasy/romance/drama

Warnings;

It's my first time writing a 'One Piece' fanfiction, so I still need to 'discover' how to put down their characters, because of that I'm pretty sure they'll be somewhat OOC.

BL/yaoi, AU, violence, angst, lemon/lime in later chapters and also perhaps horror in later chaps, grammar/spelling mistakes and since I'm not familiar with the American & Japanese high school systems most people seem to use in their fanfictions, I'm just going to go by the simple Dutch system.

And... it's been over a year since I felt like writing anything. I'm reaaaally rusty, so be patient while I'm warming up again!

You still wanna read?

Then please enjoy if you can!

* * *

~ prologue ~

* * *

Friday.

The day you knew the weekend was near.

Those last couple of hours of classes before the day ends.

Unbearable.

Sanji was tapping his fingers against his desk. Sometimes his mind got caught by the simpelest things, like how beautiful that blue hair of the girl next to him looked with a ray of sunlight resting up on it. As if it glowed and sparkled and just made the girl prettier, angelic even. Such thoughts couldn't be kept to himself, so he leaned down to her a bit and whispered those thoughts kindly to the girl. His reward; an adorable giggle.

She whispered back to him that he shouldn't be saying things like that, actually he shouldn't be talking at all when the teacher was, well, teaching. Their quiet voices were noticed by the boy in front of them, who sat alone. The guy turned in his seat, looking at them curiously, "what are you two whispering about?"

"Shut up, long nose. Vonberg will notice." The blonde teenager said, annoyance clear in his voice.

Vonberg being their biology teacher, now lecturing about DNA and cells and crap that Sanji didn't care about. He only picked biology because Vivi was interested in the class and then the long nose decided to come along too. The three of them were always together, which annoyed the blonde to no extent. He never had a moment alone with his blue haired angel. Though, he had to admit, long nose wasn't horrible company either.

Sanji had to switch high schools somewhere in the middle of his third year. He hadn't expected to make friends quickly or at all. Honestly, he hadn't even cared about making friends but then _they _had approached _him_, curious about the new guy. He had been pretty lucky to find two people he could hang out and feel comfortable with. They've been close friends for a little less than a year now. Which to the blonde was a long time.

"No way she'll notice. We're sitting all the way in the back."

"But she's scary, Usopp. If she'll notice us talking, and she always does, she'll kick us out.. or worse! Detention for a whole week!" The blue haired girl said, as softly as she could.

"Like last time." Sanji reminded the curly haired guy, "which was all your fault."

"You're the one who started yelling!"

"Because you insulted my lovely Vivi."

"No I didn't, you just got words mixed up again... blondie"

"THE HELL YOU CALLED ME, SHIT FACE?"

The teacher sighed and the rest of the class had their heads turned towards the three people. Though, not in complete surprise. Every friday was the same. Sanji got irretated a whole lot faster than on other days and the slightest thing or misunderstanding ticked him off.

Vivi slowly sunk in to her chair, realising the whole class was staring at them.. again.

"BLONDIE, BLONDIE, BLONDIEEEEEE. Because you're blonde, idiot!"

Usopp, well, you could say the boredom he carried on fridays was so huge it became painful and the only thing he thought was fun to do and lightened the pain of said boredom was pissing Sanji off. Something that was so easily done.

"YOU LONG NOSE FREAK, LET ME TELL YOU--- "

Some of their classmates turned back around again. Some a little annoyed, some not caring.

-

One green haired guy glared at the two loud idiots, the red head next to him sighed and kept looking at them with a bored expression. Then there was a black haired boy in front of them, who couldn't stop laughing.

"Look, look!" He elbowed the green haired boy behind him, who was already looking anyway. "It's them again, they're funny~!"

"Not." Nami and Zoro's voices sounded in union.

"We should invite them to eat lunch with us."

"No." They both said again, this time turning their heads to give Luffy a warning look.

The boy responded with showing them both a stubborn pout.

"Enough with the freaks already," the girl said.

"Yeah, two's enough." Zoro grumbled, earning a glare from the girl next to him, while their two classmates on the other side of the room were still yelling at each other.

-

"DON'T MAKE REMARKS ABOUT MY NOSE. YOU.. you... CURLY EYEBROW!"

"WHAT!? THAT'S THE BEST YOU GO-"

"OUT OF MY CLASS ALREADY, YOU GOD DAMN BRATS!" The teacher's screaching voice sounded throughout the class, making most of the students shiver as if someone had scratched their nales against the blackboard. The old woman was known for her language and completely scary out bursts.

"THE FUCK YOU CALLING BRATS? YOU FOUL MOUTHED OLD HAG!"

Silence.

Sanji's face turned red, hand slowly reaching to cover his mouth. He couldn't believe he just yelled at a woman! An old mean one, yeah, but all women should be treated with care and respect. It wasn't in his character to mistreat the ones of the opposite gender. Right now, he was completely repelled by himself. That, and their teacher was freaking scary as hell.

Silence.

The blonde swallowed as the woman took one step forward.

Laughing. An uncontrollable childish laugh.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw it was that weird black haired boy.

The grey haired old woman took another step and Sanji jumped out of his chair, almost knocking it over.

"I-I I'm very sorry. That, I didn't mean-" The blonde started but was interrupted rudely.

"OUT!"

"Yeeees, m-my lovely miss.." He managed to say, in a weak attempt of damage control, before the look on the teacher's face was sending him shivers through his whole body and he raced out of the class room without another word.

One boy was still laughing his guts out.

"Luffy," the teacher said as calmly as she was able to.

"Khekhehehee yeees~!?"

"Get out."

"WHEWWWEEEE FREEEE HOUR!" The raven haired boy cheered, grabbed his straw hat and skipped happily out of the room. Now was his chance to talk to the blonde guy!

-

"Idiot," Zoro sighed, then suddenly his eyes widened, "oh, no.."

"What?" The red head asked.

"Bet the inside of my wallet he's going to talk to that idiot blonde."

"Wh- oh... crap." Nami said, resting her fore head in one hand. Knowing Luffy, that was exactly what the boy was going to do.

---

"Heeeeeeeey, wait up, BLONDIEEEEE."

"What the!" Sanji turned around, slightly panicked, seeing that the black haired boy was yelling while classes were being held. "Shut up!" He hissed, "what are you doing yelling in the hallways? We're going to get detention, even _more_ detention."

"But I just want to talk to you!"

"Then, one, don't call me blondie, you idiot. Two, lower your voice."

"Mah, okay. I'm luffy."

"Sanji," the taller boy said and started walking again. He needed to go out side and take a smoke to calm his poor nervs.

He was quickly followed by Luffy, who wore a huge grin across his face.

* * *

End of the short prologue!

That teacher might seem overboard but I really had a biology teacher like that in high school. Her favourite sentence was "you god damn devil's children shut up!" She also kicked kids out of the class simply because she 'couldn't stand the look on their faces'. I knew I had to use someone like that in one of my fanfictions one day.

Review? Pretty please? At least tell me if I should continue this or not! /lol, I don't want to put stuff up that nobody wants to read,... that's embarrasing! XD/


	2. First fight

__

~ Chapter 1 ~

The school bell rang loudly through the building and not a second later the school was filled with loud voices, chairs being scraped against the floor, feet clashing in hurry against the ground, while teachers were yelling for the students to take it easy.

The same sounds were heard in the biology class. The old teacher sat down, looking relieved that the class was over and sending glares to each and every student, telling them to get their asses the hell out and leave her in peace.

Usopp grabbed his own and Sanji's bag and laughed, asking Vivi if she had seen Sanji's 'I'm so scared I could shit in my pants' face.

The girl just shook her head, and giggled softly, "you shouldn't always make such fun of him."

"I can't help myself, really!"

They walked passed some other school desks on their way out of the room.

-

One where Zoro had his school bag around his shoulder and was adding a second, luffy's bag, at the same shoulder. The boy was quite muscled for a teenager and in good shape, the extra weight was nothing to him.

He and Nami walked out of the class room too, not far behind of the other duo.

The halls were crazy. Completely crowded with teenagers and the occasional teacher. The first and second years squirmed their way in between people, wearing their bags far too high up their backs. They looked like weirdly shaped ants next to the taller and far cooler looking teenagers, who literally looked down on them.

The stairs were broad but with so many students it was hard to get down without knocking someone over. Nami could hear Zoro curse and grumble whenever someone bumped in to him, she knew he didn't like to be this close to other people. She, on the other hand, truly enjoyed watching him suffer like that.

-

Usopp and Vivi finally made it outside, sighing in content at the fresh air. It was still nice outside, maybe a little chilly but in a nice refreshing way. It was actually surprising that it wasn't colder, since it was already mid November.

"Hmm, so where's Sanji?" Usopp asked, it was their ten minute break before they had another 50 minutes of class and then, finally, the weekend would start! Luckily the next one was not a heavy class like biology.

"Ooh, there he.. is." The blue haired girl said, a bit confused as she pointed in to the blonde's direction.

The tall blonde was leaning against the school building's wall, cigarette in between his fingers, a smile on his face as he seem to be engaged in an amusing conversation with another boy.

"Hey, that's that.. euhm, Luffy something, right?" He asked, hearing that Luffy boy laugh all the way to where he was standing. "He seems like a cool guy!"

"Hmm, he does. But, euhm, you know..," she pointed her head discreetly to her right where two other people were standing, "he always hangs out with them."

"EEH! Oh, wait, right.... Maaaan, they're scaring looking.."

"And they've always looked down on us.. as far as I can remember at least."

The people Vivi was referring too, were Nami and Zoro. They were standing a little away from them, looking with thick annoyance at Sanji and Luffy.

The red haired beauty and the handsome boy were one of the more popular teenagers of the fourth year. They had gained their popularity through their looks and their cool personalities. They were cool and collected, not at all childish or shy but quite mysterious for their age.

Nobody knew why Luffy could hang out with them so easily. They had never liked people who were overly energetic and loud or embarrassingly shy and self-conscious. So, that was a mystery on his own. From one day to the other a new boy had been clinging on to Zoro, his voice and laugh equally as loud, and he hadn't left the taller boy's side ever since. Telling everyone who wanted to hear, how cool and funny he thought Zoro was.

Both parties had become sick of just standing there looking at something they didn't like and started walking towards the two happily talking boys. One duo walked with a bit more confidence while the other hesitantly moved forward, exchanging wary looks.

---

"No way! You're lying, you little bastard!" Sanji's voice sounded, a chuckle following the sentence.

"AM NOT! He really dove in to the water and fought that shark! WITH HIS FISTS!" The shorter boy with the straw hat, pulled up his own fists wildly to demonstrate."He saved my live!"

"Riiiight... you'd be a good pair with Usopp, you know."

"Eeeeh? Usopp?"

"That quivering long nose over there, hiding behind the beautiful lady," the blonde said, pointing the hand with his cigarette to his right side and smiled sweetly in to the direction of the 'beautiful lady'. A few steps away from them stood Vivi, a girl with long blue hair, behind her a nose and two eyes were poking out at shoulder lenght.

Sanji brought the cigarette to his mouth, taking a drag, then slowly blowing a white puffy line of smoke out. He was quite calm, yet knowing very well that some weird, muscled, idiotic looking guy was standing next to his other side, glaring down. The hell should he care? Was he suppose to be scared or what? No way, not Sanji Blackleg. He simply continued ignoring the other man. Even though it was starting to irritate him quite a bit.

"USOOOPPP!" Luffy yelled, excitedly. "You're that funny guy who's always yelling at Sanji in Friday's class. Usooopp. I didn't know your name was Usopp. Usssooopp. Sounds funny. I like it. USOOOPPP"

"Wha-? Hey! Stop, yelling my name like that! .. It's weird."

"USOOOPPP"

"Stop it."

"USOOOPPPPPP!"

"_Stop_. _It_."

"USOOOOOOOOPPPPPP!!!"

"STOP IT!!" The curly haired boy jumped out from behind Vivi with an annoyed cry, waving his fist in the air out of frustration.

Luffy laughed like there was no tomorrow. "He came out! Finally!! Khekhekhehhaha~!"

"T-that's.. nothing to laugh about!" Usopp said, just a little confused. The black haired boy's laugh was... kind somehow, it wasn't like he was laughing at him in spite but in joy. Which was a pleasant surprise for a change. He couldn't help laughing a bit himself, scratching the back of his head. Feeling a tiny bit nervous and relieved at the same time.

"Don't worry Usopp, he's okay."

"Ahahaha ha.. ha ha, don't say weird stuff Sanji. I never worry!"

Taking another drag, exhaling the smoke, the blonde man continued talking, as if he hadn't finished his sentence before. "Don't think I can say the same for that green haired bastard over here. What's up with that hair anyway?" The blonde asked rudely, not expecting an answer, so not feeling like looking up at the guy he asked the question to.

After a few seconds filled with surprise, that familiar laugh reached the air. Usopp froze in fear while Nami and Vivi had a look of shock on their faces.

Nobody at school had ever talked that way to the popular teenager. Ever. They were either scared of being beaten until they weren't able to walk anymore or of losing any bit of popularity they had gained over the years.

Sanji didn't care about either, he was too confident in his own fighting skill to be scared and didn't give shit about what other people thought about him. Except the ladies, of course, but he had no doubt he would be able to win them over pure by his Godly charms.

There suddenly was a loud crashing sound. The blonde didn't move an inch, even though a strong fist was slammed in to the wall right next to his face. Silky blonde hair flew up and down, blown by the shift of the air that the fist had created. Blue eyes still didn't spare the man next to him a glance.

"Oi, careful now, you might hurt yourself." He spit out, not an ounce of fear could be detected in his smooth voice.

"S-sanji," Vivi softly spoke in worry, her eyebrows knitted together. She couldn't help feeling worried, knowing Zoro's reputation. Didn't she hear he was like the strongest guy in the school?

"Don't look down on me," for the first time Zoro made his voice heard, his fist still tightened against the surface of the wall, with that blonde's face right next to it.

Blue eyes finally looked up, connecting to the other man's deep ebony eyes. There was something there he couldn't explain, and didn't quite expect. He had heard about Zoro before, seen him from a distant but never cared a bit about the man. He just seemed like the usual brain-dead muscle arm that tried to keep a cool attitude to stand out. Just now though, he saw something lingering in those eyes, something that was very similar to himself.

That spark, a passion for live.

A dream.

Was it?

"How could I? You're taller than me." Sanji's remark sounded, his back relaxing against the wall he was leaning on, a smirk appearing on his lips.

The crowd around the youngsters that had formed itself slowly out of curiosity, held their breath when Zoro's mouth moved, probably to yell something at the other guy.

He never got the chance though.

"OH MY, how lovely, how enchanting! How lucky I am to stand in such close proximity to you, truly a true Goddess~" Sanji's focus had swifted, from one moment to the other, to someone else, whipping Nami's hand up in the air, while bending one knee down in front of her. "What may I ask is your name?"

-

"What the..?" The green haired teenager was left dumbfounded. The sudden change of the blonde's attitude left him confused. It was as if he didn't exist anymore. What kind of crap was that blonde pulling?

"If you think she's such a Goddess, why the hell don't you know her name?" He asked, frustrated, and not liking the situation at all.

Annoyed, Sanji lifted a curly eyebrow, glancing up at the man who had so rudely interrupted his moment with the beautiful swan in front of him. "How should I know? This is the first time in my live I've been blessed enough to see her~~~"

"No it's not!" A couple of people said at the same time.

"She's in most of our classes!" Usopp bellowed, not believing Sanji hadn't noticed her before if he thought she was so beautiful.

"Yeah, she's always around with me and Zoro." Luffy exclaimed, pointing a thumb up at himself.

"What!?" Sanji stood up again, looking cross for no apparent reason. "You!" He said, angrily at the green haired man. "How dare you! Your brutish exterior has been blocking my view from this beautiful vision all this time!? Bastard!"

Zoro pulled up his arm to block a flexible leg from landing a heavy blow on his body. It made absolutely no sense, Zoro had no I idea why he was attacked just that the blonde really looked pissed. He decided he didn't care. If the guy wanted a fight,he sure as hell got one! It was just too bad he wasn't allowed to bring his swords to school. He would have enjoyed a fight ever more if he had them with him.

-

"Is he always like that?" Nami asked stepping up to the blue haired girl. The noises of the crazy fight clear on the school ground.

She hadn't even gotten the chance to respond to Sanji's flirty advances. Which she thought were weird, foolish and yet she couldn't completely shake the small bit of charm of it. Idiot or not the blonde was charming and even good looking. Not that she would ever fall for his type, though she wouldn't deny the man those facts.

"Euhm.. yeah," the other girl smiled timidly, almost a bit wary.

Nami raised both eyebrows at that, "what?"

"O-oh, it's just.. This is the first time you've spoken to me for years." The smile on the tall girl's lips curled up almost sadly, yet stayed plastered on her face politely.

"I never had reason too. I don't prefer talking to people who back stabbed me." The red head said calmly, though inside of her there was a flame of sadness and anger flickering heavily. She just knew far too well how to get emotions like that off her face.

"That's not tr-!"

"The past is the past," she interrupted, looking at her fingernails as if the conversation meant nothing to her. "But since Luffy seems interested in you guys we have no choice but to be at least polite to each other."

The other girl's eyebrows drew together in wonder, "why does it matter what Luffy is interested in?"

"Because he's my _friend_."

She knew that Vivi was wondering, just like pretty much everyone else except Zoro, why and how she had become friends with Luffy. The other girl didn't ask her more about it though.

There was a moment of silence until the blue haired girl spoke up again.

"Yes!"

"Huh?" Nami looked at her questioningly.

"Yes, the blonde guy. Sanji's his name, he's always like that." She chuckled slightly as she made a gesture to the blonde guy in combat.

While Zoro was kicked to the ground Sanji had a free moment to wave at the two girls. You could almost imagine his eyes shaped as hearts when he did, before he got blown away by a surprise attack from the other man.

Usopp was freaking out while Luffy clapped his hands and enjoyed the fight as if it were a show he had paid for.

Both of the girls had to laugh at the scene. The fight didn't seem too serious. It almost looked more like a rough game.

They glanced at each other again, both of them smiling lightly, while different feelings were being played out in their minds.

It seemed like they couldn't avoid each other any longer.

* * *

Slow paced, I know. But I guess these are the introduction chapters, and I like to create a story that's not only about Zosan romance/smut. I also love exploring other characters, and work them out to the best of my abilities.

Posted this a short time after the prologue, because the prologue was short and not satisfying to my own taste.

The second chapter will take a bit longer though, it hasn't been written yet and I'm curious to hear if anyone has an opinion about the story so far. To be honest I'm not completely confident. So, reviews would be nice~ Don't worry I don't mind concrit, at most I just cry a little LOL XD Be gentle to my weak soul~


	3. Paired up

_~ Chapter 2 ~_

His heart was beating like crazy as he tried to calm himself. They were in class again. It was his last hour of class before his school day would end and it was hard to concentrate. The fight was still on the green haired boy's mind.

Zoro felt both infuriated and strangely satisfied.

It was rare for others to talk to him like that. Except for his friends, people mostly tip-toed around him and left him in peace. Which was the way he liked it.

Sanji was someone who drew a lot of attention. Some students admired him for being himself, not caring what people thought of him, and then there were others who looked down on him. They thought his immature behavior was just an act to draw attention.

He was one of the latter. The blonde irritated him like no other. All those times he started yelling and acting like a dumb ass in class, he was tempted to throw a chair at him.

Damn Luffy for getting interested in the guy. That boy was going to draw Sanji and his friends in to their little group. He just knows it.

"You're free to choose whichever subject interests you. Only pairs of two are allowed, not three and not on your own. We're with twenty-two people so it should work out just fine."

"Huh? What's he saying?" Zoro asked Luffy, who sat next to him.

Nami and most of the fourth year's girls, including Vivi, were in PE. Their school was just a tad bit old fashioned and didn't mix boys and girls in the PE classes.

"Bléeeeeh, we're going to have to do another presentation." Luffy answered, seemingly not too big on the idea.

"You'll have two weeks to prepare," the teacher continued. "We'll use the classes of the third week to hold the presentations. Hm, yeah, that should be enough for everyone to take a turn. Alright, people, pick the person you want to work with and I'll note it down. And no changing partners after I've it written down."

"Great," Zoro grumbled out loud. He hated these sort of things.

He looked at the boy next to him and.. wait, that grin was giving him a bad feeling. A really bad feeling.

No.

Wait.

"Lu-"

"USOOOPPP, let's pair up!!" The cheerful boy yelled loudly and waved his hand in the air, since the darkly tanned boy sat at the other side of the room.

Both Sanji and Zoro had a look of horror on their faces. Usopp just looked surprised.

"Oi, Luffy! What the hell?" The green haired teenager protested.

"Don't worry Zoro! I'll work out something for you too.. SANJIIII~ Pair up with Zoro!"

"NO FUCKING WAY."

Both Sanji's and Zoro's voices bellowed through the room. Matching equally dangerous glares at each other and Luffy.

"Eeeeeehh~~ Why not? You guys were having so much fun together during break time!" The shorter boy sounded genuinely confused.

"THE HELL WAS THAT FUN!?" The blonde boy stood up, his chair tumbling, on the edge of falling down before it regained stability again.

Before anyone could say anything else there was a clapping sound coming from the front of the class. Everyone turned towards it. The teacher stood amused, clapping his hands to get the attention of his students. He was a lot more sane than Vonberg. A guy somewhere in his forties, easy going and kind.

The smirk on his face however did not bode well. At least not for certain students.

"Excellent Luffy, excellent idea! It's no good to always pair up with the same people. Some of you guys don't even know each others names.. Tsk, tsk.. I'll note it down, Sanji and Zoro..." The man sat down at his desk and wrote the names of the pairs up.

"WHA-!"

"No yelling in my class, please." The man looked up, pushing the bridge of his glasses further up his nose, before writing again. "Usopp and Luffy.. then.." He looked up for a second time, that wicked smile still in place, "everyone pick someone you've never worked with before and then tell me the names."

"WHAT!?"

"This should be fun!" The teacher cheered.

"S'NOT!" The class replied in union before everyone started looking for someone they could at least tolerate to work with.

The classroom was filled with yells and curses.

"FUCK YOU LUFFY."

"ASSHOLE!"

"THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU MAN?!?"

"IDIOT!"

"Eeeeeeh!? Why is everyone angry? What did I do?"

---

"WHAT DID I DOOO!?

HEEELP NAMI! HEHEHAHAHA~~"

"What?" Nami looked confused suddenly seeing the black haired boy running and yelling towards her, as she was about to make her way to the exit of the building.

It didn't take too long until two other guys came in her view. They looked furious, like mad men about to hunt something down.

"STAY STILL YOU SHITTY LITTLE BASTARD!!"

"IMMA KILL YA ASSHOLE!"

Nami was about to yell for them to calm it down but then they had already passed. All three of them rushed by her, through the crowd and left the school.

"Ugh," she touched her forehead lightly with her fingers, closed her eyes and sighed. She really couldn't be bothered to go after them.

She peeked one eye open and saw that one of the freaks was approaching her.

Slowly, awkwardly.

It was that long nosed friend of Vivi.

"What happened," she asked, expecting him to know more about it. He was always around that Sanji anyway.

"E-euh, weeeell," there was an amused smile threatening to break through. She could tell by the way the ends of his lips were trembling slightly. "You could say Luffy was the reason they had to pair up for a school project."

"For real!? Zoro has to work with that blonde?"

"Yup," that smile broke through on his face.

"That's.." Zoro was the kind of person that didn't like to work in groups. He rather just stayed on his own or with people he was familiar with. "God, Luffy that moron!" She couldn't help to laugh, already imagining how that vein on her green haired friend's head was going to explode.

"I think they seriously are going to kill him," Usopp said, laughing along with her.

"If they don't kill each other first!"

"Yeah. They're never going to make it through that project. "

"Hmmhmm," a little smirk crept up the red head's face. "Wanna take a bet on how long they'll last?"

"Huh?"

"Come on~"

"O-okay..."

---

Seriously, one day he'll kill Luffy. He already fantasized about how to chop him up in bits and bury him in some old grandma's backyard.

After having chased that boy for a long time after class, they hadn't been able to catch up to him. That darn boy was fast. Then suddenly, he was no where to be found. Which left Zoro and Sanji alone.

After arguing for a couple of minutes they agreed to meet up after school on Tuesday and go to Sanji's place to work on the project. Just thinking about it made him rage in anger. Why the hell should he suddenly have to hang out with that loud, obnoxious womanizer?

How did all of this happen in only one day? No, only in a couple of hours?

Right.

That brought him back to his plans to kill Luffy.

"Oi, Zoro! Wait up, man!"

Zoro, who had been walking in a deserted street stopped and looked over his shoulders. His eyes veiled with an unclear emotion as he looked at the people approaching him.

"Where you going?" The same voice asked.

"Work." He said, simply.

There were two guys trying to catch up to the green haired man. One of them seemed to be the same size as Zoro, a boy with a strong build, slightly tanned skin and dark brown hair that seemed close to black. The other guy was somewhat smaller but still quite strong looking like the other one, he also had brown hair just a slight bit lighter..

"Was that really that Sanji dude you were talking to just now?" The smaller one asked, confused and curious at the same time. It was nothing like Zoro to simply start mingling with people who weren't his friends. The guy was weird like that, always on his own or with the few friends he did have. The two guys were one of those few friends, or so they thought themselves.

"You know him?" Zoro asked as he started walking again. The other two were pretty much at his side already.

"Just heard about him. I think I have history with him too, he's weird." The same guy replied.

Zoro grumbled, "he's an idiot."

"Hey, Zoro, don't tell me you're going to hang out with him or something?" It was the taller brunette who started talking now, a frown on his face.

The green haired teenager shrugged. He didn't have much of a choice now did he? Luffy liked him and had pretty much invited the guy and his friends to hang out with them. Then there was that damn presentation he had to hold with the blonde.. "I guess. Have to do some project with him." He mumbled, almost sounding unwillingly to talk to the other man.

The shorter man chuckled,"luck really finds you, doesn't it?"

"Shut up." The annoyed reply came from Zoro.

He allowed the other two teenagers to hang out with him simply because they could fight. They weren't the best sword fighters but good enough to help him train. Friends wasn't really something he would call them. They were annoying, shallow. Not something Zoro found charming, yet he stuck with them. He had know them ever since he entered high school. So, Zoro knew them well enough to know not to trust them.

"Oi, Rayl! Why are you frowning?" The shorter guy, who seemed to be the more talkative one of the guys, spoke again. This time to the other muscled teenager.

"Just something I heard about that guy.. Damn, Zoro, I think you should just avoid him."

"Why?" Both Zoro and the other boy asked in curiosity, though Zoro's voice was dripped in irritation.

"Just stuff I heard, man. Last year when he came to school I heard a serious rumour about why he left his previous school in the middle of the year."

"Rumours are rumours." The green haired man interrupted. This was exactly why he couldn't think of them as friends. They cared far too much about other people, about their image, and how it could effect them. Crap like that. Zoro wasn't interested in those shallow things.

"No, no! Now I want to know." The shorter man asked, even more curious than before.

"Well, some guy I know over heard the teachers talking back then. Apparently he was being harassed by a lot of guys, and it wasn't just some innocent teasing. He even got beaten up good a couple of times. Got called names everyday and even some of that school's teachers were picking on him."

Unwillingly Zoro's curiosity was peeked, just a tiny bit. He didn't protest as he listened to his 'friend' talking.

"They were saying that it was because...," the guy looked at his side then redirected his face towards his friends again, his voice in a lower whisper as if he was ashamed, " he's gay."

Zoro rolled his eyes.

Ridiculous.

"No way! He's always fawning over some girl, right? Especially that.. chick with the blue hair, what's her name?" It was the shorter guy again who spoke up.

"It's just an act, obviously. The first couple of weeks he came to our school he didn't speak to anyone. He even ignored the girls. Only when those two freaks approached him did he start acting like he does now."

"So what!?" Zoro came to a stop, he couldn't take anymore of this bullshit.

"What, so what, Zoro? I'm telling you to stay away from him." The brunette with darker hair said, frustrated and a little pissed off that his green haired companion didn't seem to care about it.

"He's not gay. Even if he is why the fuck should I care? I don't like him anyway and not because he may or may not be gay. God, get your fucking brain out of the sewer."

"Hey! I'm just looking out for you man! _What if he comes on to you?_ That's disgusting! What would your girlfriend think? And everyone at school, they'll start to think your some.. _fag_ too!"

At this point Zoro had heard enough and shoved the large man roughly against a near wall of a house. "You know? Telling me what not to do.. makes me _just. want. to. do. it_." He spitted each word out slowly in anger in to the other man's face. "Who I hang out with is none of your fucking business."

The green haired man stepped back, letting go of his suppose to be friend and made eye contact with the other brunette, "don't follow me." Then turned around, walking in his own tempo down the street again.

-

"Woooow! What's his problem?" The shorter brunette's voice sounded when Zoro could only be seen in the far distant.

Rayl shrugged, the embarrassment and anger of being scolder clear in his eyes. "He just doesn't take it serious, Hugh. He thinks it's a fucking rumour so he doesn't care. Well, I'll show him."

"Show him what?" Hugh lifted an eyebrow. To be honest he might like rumours but he didn't care shit about whether it was true or not. He didn't give a damn about Sanji. If Zoro wanted to hang out with the blonde then that would be his problem. With those thoughts he looked at Rayl as if he was a moron.

"That the guy is a fucking no good fag." The man said with spite in his eyes and turned around, walking the opposite way Zoro was going.

"How are you going to do tha-? Oi, where are you going?"

"Home."

The shorter man lifted his arms in the air, in a question motion, then let them drop again. "Great.. now what am I suppose to do?"

-

Fucking narrow minded morons, Zoro thought. As if he hadn't got enough things that annoyed him, he had to deal with them too.

Who cared if people were gay? As long as they don't..... He suddenly got an image of Sanji treating him the same way as he did Nami and Vivi. He shook his head, shaking the image. As long as they don't do _that_. He couldn't be bothered with their sexuality. That's private anyway.

---

At a boulevard restaurant Sanji could be caught as a waiter serving customers. With a pleasant smile on his face he managed several plates of elegantly decorated dishes.

The restaurant's seafood was amazing. Yet it wasn't the best he had ever tasted. There once was a chef he knew who could easily surpass the first class cooks in this restaurant with a wink. A soft smile graced his lips. Thinking about that man. He hadn't seen the old geezer chef in the longest time.

The man had managed to learn him many tricks and old recipes. He had been trained as a cook with the discipline of a military school. Even if the old man's teachings hadn't last long, because of it he dared to say even he was better than the cooks in this restaurant.

However with his seventeen years they pretty much laughed in his face when he told them he wanted to do some of the cooking. Bastards.

Even though the old chef he had known years ago was a strict, crappy, old asshole, he never laughed at his dreams.

His cooking.

For now though he settled for being a waiter. The money wasn't bad and heaven knows he needs it.

Besides the customers loved him.

The charming young lad delivered plates smoothly to their owners as if he were dancing on air. He never slipped, never spilled anything by letting something fall.

Ladies at age winked at him and praised him for his talent. The younger ones giggled and smiled at him, shyly trying to whip up a conversation.

The blonde truly loved that and never refused to engage in light chat with them. Much to the annoyance of his boss. Not that the man could do anything about it. Sanji brought in customers, which left the young man with a strange leverage he shouldn't have as just the waiter.

Next to the women, there were also the occasional men who weren't ashamed of flirting with the blonde. Discreetly of course.

That, he truly hated.

Whenever it happened he managed to excuse himself quickly in pretends he was extremely busy and was going to get sacked if he stayed a second longer than necessary.

He never could shake that twisted, nauseating feeling in the core of his stomach.

That voice in his head.

The memories.

_Damn faggot, you think I'd actually...?_

_Nobody could every like you. You're sick._

_Sick!_

He swayed a bit and closed his eyes for a split second. Only to open them to look in to the eyes of a worried middle aged woman.

"Are you okay, dearest?"

"Oh, my, hunny! You're about to faint!" One of the woman's friends said in horror.

"Please sit down, lovely!" Another one said. They were three women in total.

"I'm sorry, my gorgeous customers~ I can't possibly-" Sanji managed to say before three pair of hands were pulling him down in to a chair at their table.

"We won't take a no for an answer!"

"For heaven's sake, young people these days just don't know when to quit and take a break!"

"That's right. Hunny, you're going to work yourself to death."

More worried chitchat illuminated around the table of the middle aged women. All he could do was just laugh a little and try to not make them feel too concerned about him. He didn't want to make the sweet ladies worry in stead of enjoying their fine dinner.

Sanji did not rush to get up though. Enjoying those glares his boss was sending him somewhere from the back. He couldn't harm him in anyway and the blonde enjoyed the sort of superior feeling he got from it.

The glare reminded him of something though, someone...

Fuck.

_"Shitty little straw hat," Sanji said, grabbing his pack of cigarette's from his pant's pocket._

_"The hell. I'm not going to do this," the stoic looking man said._

_"Well, I don't know about you but I can't afford another bad grade." _

_"Why should I care? You do it on your own then."_

_"I can't! Remember? We have to work in pairs of two." The blonde said, trying hard to keep his cool. He had already repeated one year of high school. There was no way he's going to do anything that risked having to go through another extra year of school again. "Let's just suck it up an do it. What about Tuesday? I don't have work then."_

_"What about Tuesday?"_

_"Let's meet up after school and go to my place. There's nobody around so we won't be disturbed. Maybe we could finish everything in one go."_

_"Are you deaf shitty blonde? I said no." Zoro stated stubbornly, not seemingly to change his mind anytime soon._

_"Fine. I get it." The slightly smaller teenager said, having managed to swallow up his irritation and decided to take a different approach._

_Zoro looked a bit wary. He didn't think the other man would give up so fast. "Good." He said awkwardly and attempted to walk away from Sanji._

_In the mean time Sanji had lighted a cigarette and took a drag. "I get it. You're scared."_

_The green haired man came to a stop, hands curled up in fists, a vein popping angerily. "Scared!? Of what?" He let out a chuckle mockingly, "you?"_

_"Yeah, don't worry about it. I whipped your ass pretty good earlier today. I would be scared too...."_

_"The hell I am!"_

_"Doesn't seem like it~" _

_"Tuesday, right!? Wait for me at the bike stable. I'll be out after the 6th period."_

_That was.. easier than he thought. _

_"Fine. I'll be out at the same time. See ya." Sanji turned around and raised his hand in a lazy wave good bye as he started walking back to the school to get his bike._

Damn that strawhat.

Now he had to actually spend his precious free time with the empty headed, shallow, moss ball!

He wished he could just skip Tuesday. Let Monday go to Wednesday without that damn day in between.

Luckily there were still a couple of days before that day.

Though time's a bitch.

It moved fast.

Way too fast.

* * *

Homophobes piss me off =( Sometimes it's hard to think they still exist.. but they do, ugh! I hope the OC's were believable~

Oh, yes and Zoro has a girlfriend, kind of.... for now at least.

As for updates. Sometimes it'll take longer and sometimes shorter. It just depends, but I'll try to add a new chap once a week. I'll try to make them longer too.

Review please?

Sjankuuu~ for reading =D


	4. Meeting

~ Chapter 3 ~

_"Say something."_

_"..."_

_"You hate me now, don't you?'_

_"No.. I don't know."_

_"It's okay._

_..._

_I'm gonna go."_

_"Sanji, __**wait**__!" _

"What?" Sanji's eyes flew open, answering the voice in his dreams. His hand lifted up to scratch the back of his head, blinking to shed the sleep.

He sighed.

"That's still on my mind, hu?"

There was a moment of silence. He didn't move. The only sounds came from out side. Cars, birds, people. Light sounds, though not light enough to be able to go back to sleep.

He finally raised and moved his legs to the side of his bed. Sitting up for a moment.

"Should have just left then," he mumbled to no one but himself as he stood up and left the small bedroom area.

It was time to get ready anyway.

Monday.

He had planned to make something special for lunch today. Vivi was going to love it! He could offer Nami something too~

The perfect way to start a conversation!

He coughed, smoothing his throat out to say with a deep, mature voice; "Nami-swan, would you like some of myself made cheese pie? I made it with love and you on my mind~"

Then with a feminine voice he replied; "Oh, Sanji~! For me? You made it all by yourself? You're so wooonderful~"

"It's nothing Nami. For you I'll do anything~~"

The blonde giggled and hummed cheerfully along with the radio he had just turned on. Pots and pans ready and there he went.

Lunch was going to be perfect!

---

The first part of the day was filled with math, art and history. The hours flew by with boring lectures.

Then finally it was lunch time. Sanji met up with both Usopp and Vivi, they all had different classes the period before lunch.

"Vivi~! You look absolutely wonderful today, my angel."

"Hehe.. Sanji, quit it!" The reply with a touch shyness came from the girl.

"Yeah, quit it Sanji. You're so full of it." Usopp said, rolling his eyes at the blonde guy.

"Who asked you long nose?" The blonde snorted as he sat down at a round table in the lunch area of their school.

As always it was loud. There was yelling, talking, phones going off. Some students were even running around like crazy. The third, fourth and fifth years' students had lunch at the same time, so it was crowded. Some looked up the quietness in the halls but were often chased away by the teachers or the cleaning ladies.

Sanji took out four large lunch boxes from his backpack with pride. One filled with sweet desserts, the others being the 'main course'. Of course he had made extra for Usopp or he would probably eat the girl's part too!

"How does that even fit in your bag?" Usopp asked with wonder when the blonde placed them on their table and carefully lifted the tops off of the boxes.

"Oh, Sanji, that looks delicious!" Vivi said, staring at the insides of the containers.

"I made it all for you~" The blonde cheered then looked around, in the hopes of seeing Nam-

"NAMI-SWAAAAN~" He stood up waving his arms as he saw another group of three entering the large area.

"SANJIIII!"

"..."

"The weekend was sooo long! I couldn't wait to meet up with you again~!"

Sanji's face fell, his arms wide open and in them was a smaller person hugging him.

"Thank you.. Luffy."

"Hello, Sanji" A calmer reply came from Nami as she went and sat next to Vivi at their table.

"Helloooo, Nami~" He greeted with a happy cheer, still being held by the straw hat.

He could hear the damn mossball snickering as he went and sat himself down too. That damn annoying....

"FOOOOOOD!! Uwaaaah and soo much!" Luffy's eyes sparkled as he looked at the boxes displayed on the table and lost interest in Sanji. "Is there meat in it?!?!" The boy sat down, ready to eat.

"OI! Those are for Vivi and Nami!" The blonde said as he took a seat between Luffy and Usopp.

"That's alright Sanji we can share." The blue haired girl said, smiling at the blonde teenager.

"Whatever you say Vivi~"

"Wooooo, this is really good!" The raven haired boy said as he made way through one of the lunch boxes. It was a dish with meat and salad, though mainly the meat was disappearing.

"Don't chomp everything down like that! Don't you chew?"

"Chew? Why?"

"Idiot! Save some for the rest! Here," the blonde pushed a plastic fork and knife in to the other boy's hands hoping that the cutting would slow him down a bit.

In the corner of his eyes he could see Vivi starting to make conversation with the annoying green head.

-

"Euhm, hi!" The blue haired girl smiled politely at Zoro, who had just placed himself down in the seat next to her. Nami was sitting on her other side but was mainly focused on Luffy and the others.

"Hey," the strong looking teenager replied.

....

Conversation topic, a conversation topic...

Ah!

"Did you pick a subject yet? For the presentation. Sanji told me about it."

"Ah, no, not yet. We'll decide on it tomorrow."

"Aaah~!!! Usopp and I are going to tell pirate stories!!" Luffy's ear had caught what they were talking about and interrupted loudly.

"Stories?" Zoro lifted an eyebrow at that.

"Yush!" Usopp said, "about the brave adventures of Captain Usopp the fearless and first mate Luffy the reckless!!"

"Eeeeh? Why are you the captain?" The boy with the straw hat asked, munching on a piece of meat that stuck half way out of his mouth.

"Because! I have all the leadership qualities a captain should have!" The curly head said proudly.

"Like being able to detect dangerous situations from miles and hide from them?" Sanji asked.

Quickly followed by Vivi, "And being able to tell lies too outrageous for anyone to believe?"

"WHAAAAAT!? That isn't me!" Usopp stood up, and placed one feet on his chair, elbow resting up on his upper leg, standing like a statue of a hero. "I look danger in the eye and head straight to it! And the only stories I tell are the ones I've lived through!"

"Ah, those things that happen in your dreams?" The blonde asked.

Usopp looked shocked and was about to protest but the laughing around the table was too loud. You could only hear him scream something like; "that's not it!", and, "there's nothing to laugh about!!"

The blue haired girl giggled and turned towards Zoro again, "unlike them you have the best partner. Sanji always gets high scores on these things."

"Really? Tsk. He doesn't look too smart though." He said, then smirked as he saw a blue eye glare at him. Did the blonde hear him? He didn't mind. Actually their fight on the school ground Friday was pretty refreshing. He wouldn't mind having another go at it with the blonde.

"Nyaa, you'll be surprised. He works really hard but then again it's kind of logical. He already had to repeat a year, he doesn't want to do one over again." Now that she thought about it Zoro looked to be more of Sanji's age than Usopp and her's. "Euhm, did you too?"

The next words he spoke with a tiny bit of embarrassment, yet it was heavenly covered with an uncaring tone, "yeah. Actually. Two years."

"Two years!?" She asked a bit loudly in surprise.

Suddenly one of the lunch boxes speeded across the table to slowly come to a stop in front of the green haired youth.

"Stuff your mouth instead of upsetting my lovely Vivi!" The blonde teenager at the opposite side of the table said.

"Shitty blonde I wasn't upsetting anyone." Zoro protested but then his attention went to Vivi, who elbowed his upperarm.

"Just eat. It's Sanji's way of being nice to you."

"Ooooh, Vivi~ You know me so well~"

The blue haired girl chuckled, knowing Sanji wasn't realizing that he just admitted that he was trying to be nice to Zoro. Thought it surprised her a little. The blonde had always gone on about how he couldn't stand people like the green haired man but, eventhough he was annoyed, he wasn't hostile. He even offered his food to him. Then maybe he decided he liked Zoro after all?

Or not. Sanji was a little complicated, kind of like a girl but then a manly one with a goatee. ..Did that even make sense?

Zoro just took a bite from the food and decided it was too good to pass up and started eating hungrily while the others were making lots of noise.

"Hmm, Sanji, this is really good!"

"Reaaally? Thank you Nami swan~"

"Yo-Hooo~ Yo-hooo~ A pirate's life for mee~" Usopp's and Luffy's voices sang loudly as they had their arms connected and kicked one foot up after the other. That when standing on their lunch table. "We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot~"

"GET THE HELL OFF THE TABLE YOU TWO IDIOTS"

"But it's fun Naaami~"

---

"Here, here! Hurry!" Luffy said pulling Nami and Zoro along in to an empty class room.

It was at their ten minute break when the black haired boy had almost ran them over, then hurriedly pulled them in to the first empty room he could find. There was definitely something on his mind and it was making him look rather excited.

"Slow down, Luffy! Geez!" Nami almost tripped as she was pushed in to the room.

They hadn't had private conversation in a while and Luffy only took them apart when he had something important to discuss. Something about that thing they were going to do. The three of them. They were more than just simple high school friends. They were nakama!

"Oi, Luffy what's this all about?" Zoro grunted as he leaned down on one of the low standing school desks, crossing his arms. He was wearing a tight long sleeved shirt. Black. The shapes and lines of his muscled arms could be defined really well. It had distracted Nami for just a small second before she looked at Luffy again with a little frown.

"Yeah, Luffy.. Don't tell me it has to do with those three?"

Luffy had been pretty determined that they had to sit with them at lunch time and that they all had to try and get along. So they did. But she had a feeling there was more. She could see it as that twinkle in the ebony eyes of that boy appeared.

"Exactly!" The boy with the straw hat grinned, bearing the rows of his white teeth. "They're going to come with us!'

"Honestly.. Luffy.. You can't just decide to take people with us because you think they are funny or something." She crossed her arms, determined to not let her friend have his way this time.

"It's not just that, Nami! We need them!"

"We don't. We'll be fine the three of us. The more people we take, the more troublesome it will be. Just think about it logically!" Nami, protested and then to her surprise Zoro started to object too.

But not to Luffy's idea.

"Three is too few. Luffy's right we could use extra crew."

There was that exciting little sparkle in his dark eyes too. What the hell? He wants them to come now, why? He made it pretty clear he disliked the loud and obnoxious little group.

"Zoro..?" She looked at him pointedly. He shrugged at her.

"Zoro just wants Saaaanjii to come so he can play fight with him!"

"S-shut up! Who wants him to come along!" The man hmph'ed and looked slightly embarrassed before one end of his lips turned upwards in a smug looking grin. "I just want to see how long that bastard could last on a ship."

"Why would you think he WANTS to come along with us?" The girl of the group asked the others and tried to make them think reasonably.

"Ha! I know he wants to. I just know it!" Luffy cheered, that ever confident smile on his face.

Even though sometimes.. _most_ of the time the boy looked and acted like a complete moron there was something more to him, something a lot deeper. It was as if he sensed and knew things normal people had a hard time to notice. It was admirable actually, but she wouldn't let him know she thought that. He probably wouldn't even listen or understand.

"How do you know?"

"Instinct!"

"..."

"Luffy's right. That man wants something he's not getting here." There was an understanding between Zoro and Luffy. She could see it in the way they looked at each other. As if they both had noticed something she had failed too. Zoro shrugged, apparently gotten hint of her train of thoughts, "it's in his eyes."

The smaller boy nodded, "yeah. He's just like us and he's our friend now. So, are Usopp and Vivi!"

That's how it was decided,

Their faith's had been twisting around each other only for a small period of time but they were already so tangled there was no way out.

They would face the sea with six.

"UP TO THE GRAND LINE!!" Luffy cheered with all his might and threw his fist in the air. Zoro smiled excitedly and knocked his fist against the smaller one, soon joined by a feminine one.

"Ah, well, I guess there's no way out of it." The red head smiled and soon they were all laughing loudly. Excitedly.

_Up to the grand line!_

They could hardly wait.

---

Tuesday.

Much like the day before Sanji woke up startled with a familiar voice ringing in his head. He swallowed and let himself have a moment, wondering what had triggered the memories to set off again.

What changed?

His life was going well, quiet, boring but satisfying at least.

What did change?

Luffy, Nami and Zoro suddenly entering his life?

He shook his head. That wasn't it. But then what? The blonde felt awkward in his own skin as if there were something ahead of him that would change the life he had build for himself. That calm and comfortable life... shattered to pieces. He didn't want that, and yet he did. It was complicated.

The slender boy finally got out of his bed, shrugging the feeling off and went to the bath to wash himself up. There were things he had to do before he could go to school.

Lunch.

Tuesday.

Cleaning up.

The fucking moss ball was coming over, so he had to tidy up his small apartment. Not that it was a huge dirty mess, the opposite actually. But with that man, he needed everything to be perfect or he would probably laugh at him or something..

To tell the truth though, he didn't know the green head well enough to predict his reactions. Still he felt everything had to be clean and good looking. An urge of wanting to impress the green haired man burned as he went to vacuum the place.

---

The day went by fast. Much too fast in Zoro's opinion. Each ending period brought him closer to that inevitable meeting.

He and Sanji alone, together.

Right now he was fine with tolerating the man when they were with their lively group of friends. But that was just because there were others to annoy him then too. Being all alone with the guy didn't sit well with him.

The blonde's flirting and flaunting around the girl's, the constant smoking and that arrogant attitude of his.

Without anyone around would he be able to handle all that? But then again without the girl's around, would Sanji act differently? Maybe he would get even more on his nervs? Perhaps he would...

_What if he comes on to you? _

Fuck.

He didn't want to think about that. Those were just stupid rumours.

Don't trust anything out of that Rayl's mouth. That's what he tried to tell himself but his mind couldn't help but sweep in to the direction of 'what if's'.

With a little effort he banished those thoughts from his mind. He remembered lunch earlier that day. Sanji was offering Nami chocolates and whispering sweet compliments in to Vivi's ear.

The blonde boy would do anything to Nami's command. Poor guy was going to suffer big time if he really would come with them on their trip. The red head would probably dub him her personal slave. The darn woman could be a commanding wench sometimes and that would leave the blonde working over time to satisfy her, not getting anything in return.

So, there was nothing to worry about.

The guy went crazy for a pretty girl.

At the end of the six period, which was history and made for a good napping hour, he headed out towards the place they would meet with a fresh mind.

Zoro made it through the crowd that had gathered in the school building's halls and went over to the bike stables. It was a little less crowded there, but then there was a big risk to be run over by shitty kids on bicycles.

Once he saw the blonde with his bike standing at a quiet place a little further away from the crowd, waiting patiently while texting someone on his cell phone, he rushed over to him.

"Oi! Shithead!" He called out, making the blonde look up with a glare before he returned to his cell phone. Only when he had put the thing back in his bag did he reply to Zoro. Which annoyed the man to no extent.

"Where's your bike?" Sanji asked, looking curiously at Zoro.

"Don't have one."

"... It takes twenty minutes to my place by bike. We can't walk! It'll take forever."

"So, I'll just sit on the back."

"What!? How the fuck am I suppose to hold a fat muscled ass like you on my bike without falling over?"

A vein throbbed heavily on Zoro's head but was replaced quickly by a challenging curl of thin lips. Which to the blonde was the most irritating sight he had ever seen.

"Hmmhm. I see your point. What was I thinking? How could such a scrawny, weak little body like yours ever hold anyone on to the bike." The green haired man said casually with a sarcastic undertone. The pissed off look on the handsome blonde's features was quite a reward and only made the larger teenager smirk in delight.

"GET ON!!"

"Nhhh? Are you sure? I could ride the bike, you can sit at the back."

"I SAID GET ON YOU FUCKING SACK OF SHIT." Zoro could imagine puffs of smoke coming from the blonde's nostrils. He pretty much looked like a tiny dog with a much too loud of a bark. He'll probably quiver as much as Usopp when the big dog's would come after him. At least that's what Zoro thought.

Several people spared them a look at the yelling but he paid no regard to them as he lifted one leg to sit down on the pannier rack, a leg on each side. Which was the least said heavily uncomfortable to his manhood. He had to sit like this for twenty minutes?

"Weak little body my ass! I'll show you what this weak little body can do. Damn, toying with my mind. Shitty retarded moss ball. I'll show you weak."

Zoro almost rolled his eyes as he listened to the blonde's whiny mumblings. "Would you get going already?"

"SHUT UP! I have to prepare." Sanji said, waiting a few minutes for the majority of the crowd to have left. Then he carefully tested out how the bike felt with someone so large on the back of it. He stepped on the bike then off again and repeated the actions, trying to keep balance a little longer each time.

The green haired teenager could tell he was having trouble. It started to work on his nerves, the many times Sanji lifted himself up on the bike then got off of it again.

"Geez, just have some fucking confidence and stick to it!" Zoro bellowed out in a annoyance.

To his surprise Sanji didn't yell back and did as he was told.

They were finally moving forward for more than a second.

_Crash_.

Until they were on the ground.

"You damn idiot!" Zoro hissed.

His uncomfortable position had now become quite painful and he hurriedly got on his knees, away from the bicycle. The boy was only a little shocked when he saw the way Sanji had fallen down. "Oi!? Are you okay?"

The blonde grunted out a curse at him. He had his hands in the air and had obviously taken the blow of the fall to his shoulders and head.

"What the hell is wrong with you? It's that darn idiot head of yours that you have to protect." He said, relieved to see that the blonde wasn't hurt badly, he pulled the bike off of Sanji then yanked the guy from the ground.

"The hell! That was all your fault, you're the idiot!" The blonde said while rubbing the back of his scull. It hurt but it wasn't anything big. "Get off of my bike."

"Do you want to fall down again? Well, I don't, so get on the back."

With a lot of whining and cursing the blonde got on, resting his hands just slightly against the sides of Zoro's waist. He wasn't keen on falling off again. A slight blush covered his pale cheeks because of the accident. He didn't like that Zoro was managing to do something so easily, he himself had failed to do. The whole way to his apartment the blonde was pouting and whining.

Zoro just wished he wasn't going to be like that the whole day.

---

Sanji searched his school bag for his keys, and pulled a whole set of them out. Jiggling, as he placed one in the lock of his apartment door. They were at the second floor of a small building. The blonde couldn't be bothered by the fact that he probably looked poor to the other man, living is such a worn down building.

He wasn't really, he just had to save up as much money as he could to get a step closer to his dreams. Not having a fancy home was only a minor sacrifice.

The blonde held the door open for the green head then turned to lock it again. The other man looked unfazed, though he could see by the small frown on his face he was thinking things over.

The apartment was more of a loft. It was well kept, clean. The kitchen was open and could be seen clearly from the sitting room. If you'd look to the right you could also see his bed partly hidden by a wall, the open bedroom was one stair higher then the rest of the apartment floor. The bathroom was the only closed room, the opposite of where his bed stood.

There wasn't a whole lot of furniture in the loft but still it was obviously decorated with care and class.

"You live alone?" The expected question came from the larger man, as he looked around.

"Yeah. Have since two years. Make yourself comfortable." Sanji said as he ruffled through his bag to snatch up his cigarette's.

Zoro nodded and sat himself down on the two seat coach. It was a light beige colour, the fabric soft and flexible. "Nice place."

The blonde had just lit his cigarette and threw his lighter on the counter of his kitchen. He looked slightly surprised. "For real?"

"Yeah. It doesn't need much to look good. Besides it's cool you live alone."

That wasn't really what he had expected the man to say. Just shows that he really didn't know him at all. He smiled, yet tried to restrain himself from smiling too much. "You want something to drink?"

"Got beer?"

"Got wine."

"That'll do."

He saw Zoro bent forward, grabbing the tv controller off the low, light ochre coffee table. After some zapping he heard a beat and singing from the area. Not long after he brought two glasses and a bottle to where Zoro was.

He filled the long wine glasses with a light, white wine. Offering one to Zoro as he sat down on the coach himself.

"Thanks." Zoro said, bringing the glass to his lips and tasting the sweet liquor. It wasn't really his thing but it was better that some kiddy soda. "How's your head?" The green haired man asked pointing at the blonde's skull.

Sanji rubbed the back, it was still a bit soar but the pain had been ebbing slowly. "It's fine. Doesn't hurt as much now. It'll be a bump though." He said grinning widely as he stood up again and went to the area where his bed stood.

He disappeared for a moment behind the wall, where supposedly the rest of his bedroom laid hidden. The blonde came back carrying a black laptop with him. "We can search some information on the net. Got any idea about the subject yet?"

"What about swords?"

"Swords?" Sanji placed, the laptop on the low table and connected it with a wire that would give them access to the word wide web.

"Yeah, or kendo!"

"What's that?" The blonde asked, obviously not interested about anything to do with swords.

"It's a Japanese martial art of sword fighting."

"Sounds boring." Sanji sat down again next to the other man and opened his black laptop. His cigarette still in his mouth, he picked it up with his hands so he could draw out a long smoke from his lips and leaned back in to the coach. The laptop loading itself in the mean time.

"Kendo is anything but boring." Zoro said a little offended and slightly annoyed again.

"Well, I can't talk about something that doesn't interest me. I need a good grade."

"Then don't ask me if I have any ideas! I don't give a shit about this project anyway."

"You dumb marimo! You better not screw this up for me!"

"The hell you called me? Shitty ass blonde?"

"I'm not going to waste energy to repeat myself to a retard."

Little sparkles of negative energy jumped from blue to black eyes. Both of them working themselves up, remembering the fact that they actually couldn't stand each other.

Blue eyes narrowed at the sight of the marimo's lips twisting in some sort of anticipation. What the hell was he thinking?

Zoro leaned back, arms crossing, smug look in place. "So, what subject did you have in mind?"

The question not at all fitting with the air around the larger man.

Sanji looked warily at the him, ".. the art of cooking."

...

"The hell I'm gonna talk about a sizzy thing like cooking!!" Zoro bellowed, disbelieve in his voice. Honestly cooking? The _art _of cooking? No way! He stood up when he had spoken, almost as if wanting to look bigger so he could win the sudden argument.

The blonde followed suit, and stood straight on his long legs. His height not much from Zoro's own.

"Sizzy? You call cooking sizzy? You over grown moss ball!? I'm not going to talk about some macho, brainless sport about swords, got that? Weren't you suppose to pass that 'sword loving' stage and ten already?"

"Let's fight." That previous look on the slightly taller man's face became more clear. Was this something he had been waiting for? "Whoever wins gets to pick the subject."

"Tsk. Bastard." Sanji matched the other man's smirk, taking the small bud from his mouth and pushed it in the astray on the low table. "Like I couldn't handle you."

"You're all talk no action. Right, blondie?"

His respond was a firm feet against the jaw. Zoro's face went flying to the side.

"Apparently you're the one who is all talk." Sanji retorted, placing his hands in his black slacks' pockets.

A low chuckle was heard from his opponent before a strong fist met his stomach. Sanji coughed, not having expected such a fast responds.

Without furhter hesitation the blonde's leg was lifted up in the air and kicked with a strong amount of speed against Zoro's shoulder. The green haired man flew back through the air, his fall however saved by the soft coach.

The man jumped up quickly as the blonde charged another set of kicks his way. The green haired man could block some of them with his arms, looking hastily for a weakness, an oppening. Suddenly the man's eyebrows were furrowed, slightly confused as if he had noticed an abnormality.

He had.

Sanji was ready to make another high kick. The aim was the side of Zoro's head, he stood firm on one leg, the other raised high as it swifted throught the air.

It never made it's destination.

Zoro had dropped his own body to the ground, resting his weight on flat hands as he gave away a kick of his own. Connecting to the one leg Sanji was standing on. The kick took away the ground from under the blonde who crashed to the hard floor, landing on his back.

A hiss of pain made way out of the blonde's mouth. His eyes closed. Openened again when he felt a heavy weight on his stomach.

Shit.

Zoro was on top of him, a large fist aiming for his face. The blonde tried to squirm his way out from under the muscled man. He kicked his feet up, yet the other man was too far to the front to reach. Then he twisted and turned his hips. That didn't work out either.

The hell could a bastard like Zoro be so strong? Well, he did look very strong but still! Sanji was trained by the old man Zeff himself! He couldn't be defeated like this!

Sanji closed his eyes, readying himself for the blow. A blow that never came.

He peeked one eye open and stared at the fist. It had stopped mid air by a frowning green head. "Wha-?'

"Fight." The bigger man demanded, looking as if he was noticing that abnormality again.

The blonde teenager started to wriggle again, trying to get the man off of him. "What do you think I'm doing shithead?!"

"Use your hands." Came the firm reply.

"Oh." So, that was what Zoro had noticed. "I can't."

The fist lowered. The fighting lust had been conquered by curiosity. "How come?"

Sanji leaned his upperbody up a little on his arms, feeling just a tad bit uncomfortable in the position they were in. "They're important. It doesn't matter if I hurt my legs ´cause I'll still be able to cook."

Zoro couldn't really tell when exactly, but somewhere along the line he started noticing lips. Lips? Yeah, lips, thin once that were actually speaking to him in a calm manner.

"Euhm, c-cook?"

Sanji raised a curly eyebrow, wondering about the sudden stutter in Zoro's voice. He better not be saying it's a sizzy thing to cook again! Hell, if he did, he'll somehow get out of underneath the heavy man and kick him real hard in the balls.

"Yeah, cook." He said with a frown and a hard stare. Challenging the other man to make a stupid remark about it.

Something was really off though. The marimo was completely unfocused at the moment.

He licked his lips, feeling the sudden urge to proof himself. "Want a taste?" He asked looking straight in to the black eyes of the man on top of him.

"What the hell?" Zoro asked, slight anger in his voice. Was the shit blonde trying to make fun of him or something?

_What if he comes on to you? _

The unwanted voice rang in his head again. Sanji couldn't be..? Could he?

"If you want a taste?" The blonde asked again, confused by the other man's reaction. Right now he wasn't really sure whether he should be pissed off or not.

"A taste of what!?"

"My damn cooking! Fuck. What's wrong with you?"

"Oh. Alright." There was a relieved touch to the muscled teenager's voice.

"What the hell did you think I was asking?"

"Ehh? Nothing." Zoro said quickly as he stood up. He offered a hand to help the blonde up but it was left hanging in the air, ignored.

With a slight frown Sanji went in to his kitched area. Followed quick by the green head.

"What you want?"

"Dunno," Zoro shrugged, "whatever's your speciality or something."

"I don't have a speciality I'm good at everything."

"..."

-

It took Sanji about fourty minutes to whip up something decent.

Zoro had been looking over his shoulder the entire time. It was kind of fun to watch the other man. It was obvious the blonde was in his element. He seemed to be just as happy as he would be surrounded by a group of hot chicks. No, probably even happier.

"Eh, you going to put eggs in there? I thought you said you were done?" The taller man stood paying attention to how Sanji was suddenly throwing raw eggs in the mixture he said was going to be the sauce.

"It's done. I just need to whip this upp."

"We're eating raw eggs?" Zoro made a look of disgust.

"It's healthy! Besides you're not going to taste it. Trust me."

"Hmph. Like I'd trust you." The green haired man walked back to the sitting area and took a seat in the coach again, waiting for the food to be served.

"Asshole!"

"Shithead."

Zoro refilled their glasses of wine when Sanji walked over with two large white plates. On top of them laid nicely displayed beef steak with a thick sauce and wokked vegetables on the sides.

Zoro couldn't deny the hypnotizing smell of the food. It both looked and smelled delicious.

"Eat up." Sanji said, passing Zoro a fork and a knive and sat down himself.

It didn't take too long before Zoro had his mouth stuffed. "This shit is delicious!"

The blonde beamed, "really?" Obviously taking a lot of joy out of the compliment.

Funny. Zoro thought he'd only look like that when a girl would compliment him. Apparently not.

He nodded and took another bite, "it's like ten times better than my girlfriend's food."

"..."

He was picking up some of the vegetables with his fork. In the back of his mind the sudden silence felt strange. But the food was too good to let that distract him.

"EEEEEHHHH!?!? You have a girlfriend!?"

Zoro swallowed down the food, startled by the sudden scream then simply said, "yes."

"What the hell? How come I don't know? Nobody mentioned it."

"That's because nobody knows, idiot. At least not them," he said, 'them' referring to the people that usually sat at their now common lunch table.

"Awww," Sanji whined as he started to cut his meat, "how come a brute like you has a girlfriend?"

"Brute like me?" Zoro repeated, irritated.

"What's she like?"

Zoro shrugged, not liking the direction of their conversation. "She's a pain in the ass. Tricked me in going out with her."

Sanji looked shocked, "WHHAAAT? How can you talk about your own girlfriend like that!? Asshole! She´s too good for you!"

"How the hell would you know? I haven't even told you who she is!"

"Talking about women like this.. You deserve absolutely no girl," he shook his head in disapproval and sipped his wine. "Women should be treated gently with care and respect."

"You can't treat her gently or she'll bite your head off!" Zoro said putting another piece of meat in to his mouth. Almost losing himself in the bliss of the sweet taste.

"Do you even love her?" The blonde asked with a curly eyebrow raised skeptically.

It took a second for Zoro to answer. You know, because it was one of those hard question you actually had to think about. "Yes. I wouldn't have let her trick me if I didn't," the answer finally sounded.

Suddenly Sanji's lips curled in a sad, sweet smile that left Zoro wondering. The blue eye showed that the blonde was somewhere far away, not in this room. He couldn't deny the fact that he had a sudden urge to lay an arm around the blonde youth. Only to show him a bit of comfort, of course.

But what would he be comforting him about?

"Oi, Sanji?" He decided to keep it to just talking. Touching would be weird, really weird.

"That's nice atleast. But I still think you don't deserve her." The cook resumed the conversation, letting out a little huff before eating from his meal again.

In the end the evening went by quick. After dinner they talked, occasionally they fought about something petty or yelled at each other but mostly they talked about things. Calmly. Sanji told Zoro a bit of why cooking was so important to him

That he had to defeat some shitty old cook that was supposedly the best damn cook in the world. He told Zoro that the man was floating somewhere in sea on a huge ship that was actually a restaurant.

To his own surprise he loved hearing the cook talk. He sounded happy when it had to do with cooking. He was only half as annoying as he was when he was around the others, and especially the opposite gender.

Zoro's biggest and probably most upsetting discovery was how he loved the blonde's smile. When he was really smiling.

That just left him with a confused and bitter after taste. Honestly, he wasn't sure how to handle that knowledge he had obtained about himself. So, he let it slide. Why stress himself about something that was probably a feeling of some sort of friendship?

They were going to become nakama afterall.

Even if Sanji didn't know that piece of information yet. Though Zoro thought it would fit perfectly with the blonde cook's dreams.

It had already become passed midnight when he decided to leave Sanji's place. Both of the guy's were highly embarrased that they hadn't even started working on their project yet. They decided to work on it when they had a free period at school and then work it out further in the weekend.

Following the direction Sanji had given him he ended up at a tram stop, he had taken a wrong turn somewhere so it took him a little longer than expected but he made it at least, and that was what mattered. After taking the tram he got home easily.

As he placed his key in to the house's door lock, he didn't even have to turn it before the door was opened from the inside.

He frowned.

Nobody should be home since his foster father was on a business trip. He couldn't think of anyone else that had a key to their house. When he looked up, he saw it was a young woman who had opened the door. Smiling seductively at him.

Zoro grunted. So it was her.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

* * *

Aaand Cut!

I had to stop myself or this chapter would never end! x3

Thank you for the reviews on the last chap! It was very encouraging to hear what you all had to say =D And thanks to 'Queenoffiction' for giving me advice about Zoro's character! I'm sure he's still not completely like the Zoro we all know, but darn he's hard to get down on paper! I at least hope I improved a little~~

Also, I'm not sure about the word 'coach' but when I looked it up it seemed right... It still seems off though..

And last, I changed the title to 'common dreams' because the long title started to piss me off XD

Leave me a review? I love them~~~ =D

Hope you all enjoyed!


	5. Misery

A/N : Y'OMYGAWD yeah it has been a while! This chapter was HARD to write. First I got stuck in the middle and then I went over it again and again until everything seemed right. I've been making lots of mistakes in the other chapters SO now I tried to work harder. Oh, and I also felt a lot more comfortable writing again then I did before! I hope it shows! And hopefully this chapter can entertain you! (I'm sure there will still be some mistakes but I'm learning~~~)

And don't be worried, Zoro and his pretty girl will break up soon, veeeeery soon ^^ Don't hate the girl though, she's awesome~~ To me at least =D

AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR EVERY REVIEW! THEY MEAN A LOT TO ME!! I'm sorry I couldn't thank everyone personally but this time I will!! I love reading everyone's thoughts and/or concrit~!!

**Chapter warnings **; Zoro x Girl, Gay bashing, Violence

~ Chapter 4 ~

"What the hell are you doing here?"

The young woman pouted, "shouldn't you be happy to see me?"

"No. It's 2 fucking A.M."

"Exactly. Where the hell have you been?"

"I told you. Had to go to Sanji's to work on that dumb project." Zoro said, stepping in to the house and throwing his school bag in to the hall carelessly, his jacket following soon after.

He just wanted to go to sleep.

"Zoro."

He looked down at the girl, feeling hands grip his shirt tightly before soft lips were firm on his. Her demanding kiss, it was hard not to succumb to it. So he did.

A moan left him, softly vibrating against their mouths. Lust triggered, he was getting in to the kiss, putting his hands on her hips, making them roam from hip to upper body.

Getting his head smashed in.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Zoro cried out in surprise and pain, while landing with his ass on the cold floor of the hallway. One hand went up to rub the bump that was left on his head. He hated it when she suddenly did that!

"Punishment." She said, simply. Placing a hand on each hip, looking down on him with a superior smile.

"For what?" He hissed, having a hard time to control his anger at this hour.

"Not backing me up the other day. A man should stand by his woman, you know. Besides I was right."

"The other day.." He had to think hard to remember what she meant. "Oh, that? I thought you were passed that."

"I am. I suppose I can see what you and Luffy were going on about. But STILL the getting away part will be even harder now! A ship full of underaged teenagers, and we don't have the right documents!" Nami sighed, "the hell are you thinking?"

The green haired man stood up, absentmindedly still rubbing his head. "Won't be a problem. Think about it this way; what if we stumble up on armed pirates. Luffy and I might be occupied, what will a little wench like you do when you get attacked?"

"Little wench..?" The red head's eyebrow twitched at the insulting nick name.

"We'll have others to protect you too. The shitty cook could be a pretty good fighter with some practice."

"What cook?"

"Curly brow's a cook."

"Ah. Sanji? No wonder, his lunches are pretty good."

"Hm."

"So, did you finish it?"

"What?"

"The project."

"O, that. Not started yet.." The older teenager mumbled as he turned his back and walked out of the hall way in to the kitchen. Feeling up for a mid-night drink.

"What have you been doing all this time then?" The red head asked, a curious look on her face as she followed her boyfriend in to the other room. In the back of her mind she remembered the bet she had going on with Usopp. Those twenty euros were going to be hers!

"We, euhm, couldn't agree on picking a subject." The green haired man mumbled as he pulled a beer out of the refrigerator and opened it with his teeth. It was the truth though, he just left out all the talking they did. Somehow he felt it was embarrassing to tell, somehow.. He shrugged at his own thoughts, who cared about it anyway?

"Aha~" Nami said with a tiny smile on her lips, "I guess it's going to be hard, no? Now just imagine all those days you have to spend with him on the ship." She teased her grumpy looking boyfriend. She didn't get much of a fun reaction out of him though.

"Hm," the green haired man took a sip from his beer then headed for the stairway with the bottle in hand, "going to bed."

She pouted, "alright.. Going home."

A little disappointed, Nami disappeared through the kitchen window and sneaked back in to the house next door, carefully not to wake her foster mother and sister. She was skilled in getting in and out of houses without really needing a key. Security was rather low in the area she lived in, at least it was in her opinion.

The three of them, Luffy, Zoro and her, had been living in the same neighborhood for years. Zoro moved in when both Luffy and Nami were around their fifth year, those two had been living in the same place for as long as they could remember.

They had been drawn to Zoro since the very first time they had met him as kids. He was two years older and quite mysterious and cool looking. Though they quickly learned he wasn't as 'cool' as he liked people to think he was. He was fun company though and the three of them had been tight ever since.

Maybe they connected so well to each other because they were similar in a way.

All three were adopted.

Even though they were lucky to have been adopted by foster parents that treated them like treasures, there was always a part of them that was left wondering.

Those people with the same blood as theirs, what were they like?

Luffy did have a biological brother but no one knew where exactly he was. The black haired boy never talked about him much but when he did talk about his brother, there was always a prideful nudge in his voice. Nami figured he had seen his brother quite often when he was young but apparently he was now off on great adventures, or so Luffy said. Adventures Luffy wanted to experience too.

That was another thing the three teenagers had in common.

The sea.

Though their dreams and reasons were different, they all wanted out of their normal lives and they all wanted to sail the sea. Drift away on adventures they would only know by books if they stayed where they were.

The plans to find the Grand Line, a sea that was only mentioned in stories and myth, had been made years ago. It might be crazy, but a part of her truly believes that it does exists. If she didn't, she would have knocked some sense in to her male nakama ages ago.

It wasn't easy to just go off to sea. They had worked hard to make all the preparations. And it was even harder work to make Luffy be patient and wait.

This summer was finally it. They were suppose to go through with their risky plans.

Nami felt just a little bitter about it not being the three of them anymore. It wasn't easy! After all those years of it being just their little group, a couple of others had suddenly joined.

That is if they were going to agree to go with them. They might. Probably not if they were sane. The problem was they didn't look sane, specially not Sanji and Usopp.

Such weirdo's.

Then there was Vivi. A girl she had a huge fight with in middle school, right before they entered high school. Now she might be stuck with her for a long time too. It wasn't that she disliked the other girl. Actually she had always been really fond of her.

But when the blue haired girl screwed up for the first time she took it as a way out of their friendship. A way out of not having to be too close to someone so kind.. Yeah, it didn't make sense. It was something she still hadn't figured out herself either. There was just a thing about the other girl that made her.. feel anxious, worried. That was all in the past though. She had to get over it now.

And another thing! Seducing Zoro on a small ship with six people would be harder too...

She shrugged as she tiptoed up to her bedroom. She just had to get used to it. Some way it will work out. Things always did eventually.

------

"No.. No... Oh! That one looks good." Sanji pointed at the light giving screen, a picture of an unknown sword with lots of decoration in the form of golden lined flowers and colourful little gems was displayed on it.

"Hmph. You really don't know anything about katana's."

"Well, excuse me for not knowing a thing about dorky swords."

"What's dorky about them!?"

Both Sanji and Zoro had a free period and decided to go to the computer room of their school. It was a large room on the third floor of the building. A simple well lighted room with large windows. There where a couple rows of tables, a computer standing up on each. In the far front of the room was a clean and organised desk, belonging to a middle aged woman who was left in charge of the floor.

The two teenagers had joined their chairs in front of one table. Searching for information and pictures about Katana's and Kendo on the computer.

"I didn't want to do it about swords anyway."

"Well, you have no choice since I won."

"Pft. Barely!"

"Yeah, right."

"Want to do it over, bastard?" Sanji spoke with a bored tone as he took a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Mr. Blackleg!" Sharp high heels knocked on the wooden floor in quick steps, "don't you dare lit up one of those disgusting things on my floor. If you want to smoke go outside." A strawberry blonde woman reached the boys with a strict look on her face.

"Ah-ah, Ms. Jeane. I forgot it's a no smoking area." The blonde said mustering up his most charming smile.

"Wipe that fake smile of your face. I'm not such a simple woman to fall for that."

"A-alright. Miss." The dejected look and dramatic pout on Sanji's face made Zoro want to grin and laugh at the blonde, though he managed to stay in control of his mirth.

"Ah, Zoro," the middle aged woman said with a smile, "keep a watch on those first years for me." She pointed in to the direction of a little group of thirteen year olds. "I don't trust they'll behave when I'm gone for a while. Oh, and on this one too." She smacked the blonde head of Sanji with minor force, "if I smell smoke when I return you're a death man Mr. Blackleg."

"Of course Mrs. Jeane." The green head said, slightly amused.

The woman then turned and left the room, the sound of high heels pounding viciously in to the floor was heard, before it faded and a door was closed.

"What the hell are you sucking up to her for?" The blonde asked, highly annoyed that the woman had seem to taken a liking towards Zoro more than to his own charming self.

"Am not. She just gives me fun things to do."

"Hm?" Sanji leaned his elbow on the table, his chin resting up on his hand. Watching lazily as Zoro stood up and walked towards the group of first years, who seemed to be giggling and having far too much fun to be actually working on a school project.

"So, what class wants you to check out these site?"

The eyes of the young teenage boys almost jumped out of their socket in shock. One looked up at Zoro standing behind him, the older teenager was looking quite frightening with an evil smirk across his features.

"W-what do you want fuck-head?"

Sanji raised his curly eyebrow, hearing one of the boys speak. Zoro did pretty much the same.

"You tough, hu? I was just going to report you're all looking at porn sites but I guess you want a fight, no?" The green haired man looked down fiercely at the boy who had cursed at him and bended down slightly, his hands leaning on the back of their chairs.

All of them started to look quite nervous. Compared to them Zoro was a huge bear that probably needed less than no effort to beat them in a fight.

"No! I just.. I didn't mean it that way!"

The blonde curly browed teenager, looked on enjoying the little show. Zoro kept teasing and frightening the kids until they promised to work on their school work and leave when they were done.

That was pretty funny, Sanji had to admit. He hadn't thought, though, that Zoro would get a kick out of frightening little kids. Why would he even bother? Did he really care about the younger generation doing their homework?

That was definitely a 'no'.

Sanji watched the green head move back to where he was. His visible eye following the man's movement as he sat down next to him in his own chair. "You're really bored aren't you?"

"Bet I am."

"You going to be satisfied scaring little kids once in a while?"

"Hell, no."

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

Zoro's lips twisted in a mysterious, all knowing smile then nodded towards the monitor. "Focusing on our project."

He saw Sanji's eye narrowing a tiny bit with suspicion, that blue eye focusing on him before it turned towards the screen again.

"I still think that sword looks good."

"That's because it's a plastic, commercial thing." Sounds of clicks were heard and the images on the screen changed quickly, until Zoro seemed satisfied. "This one. Look."

Sanji's head bend forward to take a closer look at the screen. Blonde hair close to Zoro's face, who instantly moved backwards from the other, then slowly tilted his face forward again as if he first had to come over the surprise of a sudden movement. The faint smell of a sweet shampoo mixed with the muff scent of tobacco made it's own special kind of aroma. The green head couldn't help but silently sniff, trying to catch a little more of that scent.

"It's kind of cool.. It says here it's cursed. It even has a name. Sandaaei Ki-kiteetsu."

"Sandai Kitetsu," Zoro corrected and subconsciously moved forward, closer to the monitor, closer to Sanji's face. He started explaining things about the peculiar sword with the name, where it came from, how it was cursed.

The blonde had to put some effort in to focusing on the words the green haired man was speaking.

Focus, focus, focus.

On the words, not his heart that started speeding since Zoro had moved closer. The guy was, well, really close.

It was normal, he guessed. Zoro being an okay looking guy and he did have the tendency to feel attracted to okay looking guys. Not that he would ever say that out loud.

Not again at least.

Not any time soon.

The first time he had confessed his attraction to a guy turned out to be a disaster.

No.

Worse than a disaster, it had left him scarred and hurt. Wounds that had failed to heal yet, and yeah, very corny, he felt like they never will.

Every sane person would avoid a situation that had beaten you up so badly the first time. That's why he had come up with a 'no guys' policy. He would never let himself be vulnerable towards another man ever again. He couldn't bare to feel so disgusted with himself for a second time. Especially since he had still failed at feeling comfortable with himself again after the first time.

And he absolutely never wanted to feel weak again.

That wasn't him.

Humiliated and scared.

That wasn't Sanji.

_"__**Sanji**__, wait!"_

_His body stopped, frozen for a second before he turned around again. A forced, cocky smile on his face, "look. I get it. It's not like I'm going to cry or something. I just had to get it off of my chest."_

_"So. You wont cry for me?"_

_"Tsk!" The blonde almost laughed at that. "You're not _worth_ it," the blonde said, his voice being a tease, a cover for the hurt rejection had caused._

_"Are you sure about that? Come here.."_

_"Yes and why?"_

_"What? Queer and chicken? Come hear, Sanji."_

_"You asshole!" The blonde fumed as he stomped towards the person he saw as a close friend, his first love._

_Little could he comprehend before he was pulled towards.. a kiss. Hot, wet and far from perfect. But a kiss.. a kiss from someone he loved and not from some random girl he adored for her beauty, but someone who was able to make his heart race as if it had signed up for a competition. _

_For a moment, he had entered heaven on earth._

"You.. Are you even listening?! OI!"

"Eh, what?" Sanji asked, as his eyes returned from far away to the present. His heart, thank Gods, had stopped speeding. No wonder though, next to him was a very unattractive, angry looking Zoro. "Wow! What's your problem?" He quickly moved away, back hitting the back of his chair, being too close to that man's pissed off face even scared him.

"The problem is that I've been trying to explain everything I know about that sword and you're day dreaming!" So, this was how teachers felt when their class wasn't listening to all that stuff they had prepared to speech about at home. Well, unlike them he wasn't going to explain everything for a second time.

"Well, you sure shouldn't aim to become a teacher or something." Sanji said, having sort of the same line of thought as Zoro. "Just explain it again. It couldn't have been all that much if it came out of your brain."

"Pft, bastard! You just couldn't handle all the information I was telling you so your brain went on tilt."

"What!? You better prepare yourself _you son of a bitch!!!"_

"SANJI BLACKLEG!" The door closed and the devilish sound of fast approaching heals signaled he was in trouble...

---

Lunch time was headed and everything went like it had gone the rest of the week. They all strangely seemed like old friends, who had known each other for years.

Usopp and Luffy were still arguing about who was going to be captain in their stories they were going to tell for their presentation. Nami and Zoro tried but failed to get them to listen when they said they weren't suppose to tell stories that they made up.

Vivi and Sanji were talking about many things, anything that came up. Once in a couple of minutes Sanji would swoon over her then got angry because of the mumbled 'idiot' that came from Zoro then got lost in Nami's beauty.

The group was interrupted once by a large guy, a high school teenager that looked like he could pass for an adult. He had blackish brown hair, he was not completely bad looking but he had an unpleasant air around him, that would make you think other wise.

"Oi, Zoro. Hi Nami," he said nodding and sending a small smile towards the girl, who sat next to his friend at the lunch table.

"Oh, hey, Rayl." She politely replied.

"Yo, Zoro, You up to train tonight?"

Sanji noticed everyone around the table was silent. All eyes on the guy named Rayl. The blonde was surprised to see Luffy having an expression other than amused, it wasn't a surprise to see Usopp squirming slightly in his nervosity. The blonde recognised Rayl as one of the guys who used to pick on his long nosed friend. Though luckily they stopped harassing him when Usopp's mother had talked to the director of the school. A good thing or else Sanji would have definitely kicked his ass, he still felt like doing it now seeing the sad look in his friend's face.

"Ah, sure. Oh, wait," Zoro said hesitantly then looked at Sanji across the table, "weren't we going to work on that school project?"

"We can do that tomorrow, no, Friday, if you want. I'll be out from school a bit later though. Detention." The curly browed man replied before frowning at the look he was receiving from Rayl. What the hell was his problem? If looks could kill Sanji would have fallen off his chair about now.

The big dark haired bull said goodbye to the group, well actually he said goodbye to Zoro and Nami while ignoring the others, then left.

"Hm, Zoro. I don't like him." Luffy said seriously while picking up a piece of food. The boy received a nod in return from the green head, probably meaning that he knew and agreed.

That was all the aftermath there was from the unpleasant visitor before everyone was loud and cheerful again. The blonde teenager had to blink at the sudden change but then grinned at something stupid that Luffy did.

"Hey, shit-cook!"

"What moss-ball?"

"What time Friday?"

"Oh, seven. You know the way, right? Just wait for me at my place and I'll be there around seven."

"Sure thing."

----

This Friday was even more horrible that the regular Friday.

One, he wasn't allowed to go to the biology class and spent an hour next to his lovely blue haired angel. But maybe it was a good thing, he wasn't completely confident to face Vonberg. He shouted at a woman! He still hadn't forgiven himself yet..

Two, he was forced to write an essay about DNA. He hadn't at all focused on it in class and reading about in his text book didn't work for him. He just kept staring at the page, he could see words but then he saw clouds, as he looked out of the window. The subject didn't interest him a bit. But struggles and hard ache for the class biology was worth it to spend an hour at Vivi's side~

He started day dreaming, pink little hearts were easily imagined around him. In the back of his mind he realised the more he didn't work on his essay the more he had to do at home.. it didn't quite sink in though.

At 18:30 the teacher in the detention room gave him a sign that he could go. Finally!

In a hurry he made it outside, zipping his black winter jacket, made of matt nylon and with a fake, beige fur around his hood, as he made way to the stables. They were almost abandoned, only a couple of teacher's bikes were at the front and some of the students who were still in detention.

He was lucky he didn't live too close to the school or they would have made him stay even longer. The blonde attached his school bag to the pannier rack, then took a brief moment to look at his watch. He still had a little more than twenty minutes to get to Zoro, which would be enough.

The blonde looked back when he heard foot steps but when he did, there was no one there. He shrugged it off since he didn't have too much time.

After unlocking his bike he went off in a hurry, taking a short cut through some abandoned streets of the city. He never took them because they had this eerie feeling about them. The street was small and the buildings large and intimidating. Obviously, since it had been a part of a prison in the fifties. But they had moved it elsewhere since people were complaining that it was too close to their homes.

The young cook thought it was kind of cool and smiled when he remembered Usopp telling stories of himself, fearlessly fighting off prisoner's ghosts in this street.

The blonde was too caught off in his own mind to notice the bike following him.

The road was uneven, made out of small square stones, once in a while a few were sticking out. So, he slowed down a little not wanting to fall off his bike. It was then another bike passed him and came to a squeaking stop not far in front of him.

He felt his heart sink in to a dephtless pit and his stomach twisted in shock at the same time.

The situation was awfully familiar.

He recgonised Rayl on the bike. That look in his eyes.

A long object in his hand.

Sanji recgonised it as a katana from the picture he had seen with Zoro. It was safely stored in it's case.

He stood on his break but of course one of the stones had to be in the way and he fell down harshly with a curse, only a couple of steps away from Rayl's feet.

The deep chuckle scared him. More then it should. He could stand his own for sure!

But when the memories were triggered. He felt half his strength leave. More than half actually, he felt weak and only because his mind told him he was.

_Fucking faggot.._

_God, look at him. Scared like a girl!_

_Just disgusting!_

"What the fuck do you want, asshole?" Sanji mustered up to say, his voice solid yet his courage leaking. He tried to stand up but that feared first hit made it impossible.

A kick to his stomach. Very original.

He coughed, trying to block out the pain so he could move up quickly but the end of the katana case pinned him to the ground, pressing against his chest.

The other high school boy kneeled down, his face serious. "Hey, homo."

He felt blood rush through his body angrily, wanting to fight back but his mind was repeatingly telling him that he was powerless. He might as well lay back and just take it. It didn't matter anyway, because he didn't have a chance.

"Who tells you I am, shit-face?" He was surprised his voice was still sounding firm and confident.

"What? You don't like some of this?" The cruel voice said as a hand reached out to Sanji's face, and stroked down along his neck.

Gritting his teeth, he fiercely pushed his upper body up against the covered katana, but the inches he had moved were cashed in again by a strong knee in his stomach. He yelled out at the firm, dull stab in the vulnerable area of his body.

Something.. he had to do something!

"It's obvious you are what you are. Look at how scared you are just by a touch. Don't want your secret to come out again do you?"

How the hell did he know? The teachers were suppose to keep his sexuality and what had happened at his previous high school a secret! And his old school was far enough apart from his current one to prevent rumours. "What secret! I don't fucking care who knows!" Well, he didn't, but he wouldn't go around announcing it freely either.

"Ah, so you admit it?"

"As if it's some sin?" Adrenaline and pain rushed through his body as he smirked, "you might want to try it out first before you condemn it."

That was all it took for Rayl's simple mind to break and send a fist to the blonde's face, then another...

..and another.

Sanji's head got stuck between the ruthless fists and the cruel stabbing stones of the street. Blood came crawling from his mouth, where teeth had clashed with his tongue and the inside of his cheeks. The stone was bit by bit tapping blood from the back of his head while slowly cutting a scar.

Far away he could hear a drop of water reach the street as memories and present danced around each other, confusing him. Where was he again? Who was beating him? Small water drops reached his face as he got another hit to the stomach.

The larger man stood up again. He heard his deep voice from a distant. "Don't ever come near Zoro again. None of my friends want to have anything to do with your fucked up kind."

_Zoro?_

A flood of rain splashed on him and brought him back to the present and the throbbing pain he was in.

"Zoro wants nothing to do with you. Never talk to him again like he's your buddy. You fucking bastard."

He saw the katana heading for him, still in it's container but Sanji knew it was going to hurt his already pain filled body. It was the first time since this shit happened that Sanji's reflexes were faster than his mind and his leg flew up and hit the object heading for him.

The katana flew away and hit the thick wall of the deserted prison, Rayl cursed, surprised by the force of the kick. Sanji finally lifted himself up of the ground.

Confidence that was rebuilding fled again with the look of disgust in the taller man's eyes. When the man went to get his weapon back, the blonde launched on his bike and ran away.

He could hear Rayl yelling at him. Again barking a warning to stay away from Zoro.

Zoro.. Zoro.. Zoro..

Was he behind it?

Being betrayed was nothing new. The trust Sanji gave his new friends was only thin. Was that fragile trust misplaced when it came to Zoro?

He ran faster and faster, ignoring the pain it brought him, then he finally climbed on to his bike he was dragging along. He rushed to his home, a feeling of disgust gnawing on his insides. For himself. For failing to fight back and stand up for himself.

Why was he so weak?

When he had so much strength?

---

;---; I had a hard time writing the last part especially...There was suppose to be another scene with Zoro at the end but I'm going to save it for the next chap since it became so long already and it felt finished at this point.

Tell me your thoughts/concrits?

Man, my author note's are long.. But another thing I want to say is; Sanji obviously isn't the strong Sanji we all know at this point, he still has to over come his fears and grow in to that strong man! Same goes for the other characters, I think. Also I'm not going by the official ages, I know Nami is actually a year older than Luffy but it seemed to fit the fanfiction *is now forcing herself to stop typing*

Thanks for reading everyone!


	6. Friends

**~ Chapter 5 ~**

Rain was crashing down. It had been for the last hour.

The streets were flooded, and except for the occasional car speeding by there was no life outside.

Deserted and lonely, cold.

It was one of those days when you could feel that emptiness surrounding you in tenfold. Where you'd feel sadness and happiness colliding as the rain looked both beautiful and painfully cold.

Zoro looked up at the dark, grey sky from inside the apartment building, the front door was partly made of glass, so he had a good view. One of Sanji's neighbours had let him in to the building after he had explained the situation. The woman had looked doubtful but the soft rain drops that were falling down had convinced her to let the young man in.

He'd figured the blonde was running late. Maybe one of the teachers was giving him trouble or something, he thought. Though no teacher would keep him up 'till nine.

Nine o'clock.

And still no Sanji.

He'd considered going home at eight, but decided to wait until the weather would clear up. He was so angry, but then the time kept on passing and his anger grew in to worry.

After he had the time to think about it, he'd figured that Sanji wasn't the type of guy to pull some childish prank on him. Sure, he could be a total bastard but he'd call you names in your face instead of setting you up like this. That, or his judge of character was totally off.

It was kind of funny. He felt like he knew the asshole cook pretty well. Enough to know that something serious had to come up for Sanji not to show up at the appointed time.

The green haired man pulled himself away from the front door, arms crossed in front of his chest, and walked a bit further in to the building's joint arrival area. He leaned back against a wall and wondered if he should go looking for his classmate. But that was silly, where would he look?

He leaned his head back against the stone wall and let his thoughts drift off, leaving his mind empty and unsatisfied. The weather touching that part of him that hid inside his stomach, where there was this.. he couldn't describe it better then a huge, awkward silence. A void space, aching to be used.

It was then that he heard the movement of the front door and the awareness of the silence inside him faded.

A soaking wet Sanji stood at the door opening. For a moment he didn't move, noticing the presence of his green haired classmate. The hood of his black jacket was pulled down far in front of his face, leaving his features shadowed and unclear behind the fake fur of the garment.

Zoro stood straight, stretching his back as he looked at the blonde and lifted an eyebrow. The blonde made no indication to greet him as he walked towards the stairs with a slight kink in his usual smooth movement.

"Hey! Shit-cook, you know how long I've been waiting here?" He asked, his voice laced with fake annoyance as he was mostly curious about what the hell was going on. Something was up, that was for sure.

When the cook ignored him and just walked up the stairs was when the real irritation started hitting. "Oi! I'm talking to you asshole!" Zoro quickly followed the other teenager up the stairs, not getting any responds other than the bastard walking a whole lot faster in order to avoid him from catching up.

He slowed down, thinking he should just leave. Honestly, why should be put up with that shit assed behaviour after having waited for two hours? It was the most logical thing to do, he thought, yet he found himself running after the blonde.

When Sanji had reached his apartment floor, Zoro managed to grab his arm and turn him around so he would face him, before the blonde could unlock the door to his loft.

"What the fuck is wrong with.. you." Zoro's eyes were wide as he caught a glimpse of the other's face, he pulled the hood up off of Sanji's head before the other had time to say anything back. He swallowed, "what.. happened?"

Sanji's face, glaring in fury, looked awful and not just because of the glaring. One side was swollen, and bruised heavily with an ugly purple and a greyish green. Thin lips were chapped, and a drop of fresh blood had rolled down from the left side of his mouth. He figured there had been more blood, seeing the hardened bits that were still clinging on to the blonde's wet hair.

"_You_ have to ask?"

Zoro blinked. The man before him sounded angry. Angry at him?

".. You show up two hours too late, looking like you've been hit by a car or something. What the hell do you expect? Should I make some small talk about the fucking weather instead!? What the hell happened?! Who the fuck did this to you?!!" Controlling his voice to stay calm was hard and the control leaked more with every sentence. His hands grabbed the blonde by his shoulders as if he wanted to shake the shitty attitude out of the man.

"YOU! You happened!!" Sanji yelled back, his blue eyes burning with rage and unshed tears. He grabbed Zoro's upper arms in return and yanked them off of him, "don't TOUCH me! And don't come near me and get the fuck out!" He said the last with a sweep of his arm, pointing his finger back at the staircase.

"The hell did I do?!" Seriously, now he was being blamed for something he had absolutely nothing to do with? That just pissed him off more. "I'm not going anywhere until you get your fucking act together and start telling me what happened!" The green head retorted, then something clicked in his mind. Maybe... "Did someone threaten you? Is that why you're not talking? Just tell me, I'll make sure they'll neve-"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How fucked up are you? You send your little buddy to pummel me up and what? Now you're trying to act like you wanna save me? How nice of you," Sanji's voice dripped in sarcasm, "but no thank you."

Little buddy...?

The wheels in Zoro's mind were working over time, thinking of possibilities. Buddy... Yeah, Rayl had been bitching to him about Sanji being gay before, but he hadn't mentioned it again. He knew the guy wasn't the greatest person but... he wouldn't go this far would he? Both him and Rayl enjoyed fighting, they shared their love for Kendo, they both respected and honoured it. But there were rules attached to the art of swordmanship. They were always taught not to fight people outside the dõjo unless you needed to defend yourself. Rayl wasn't the type to break any of the rules they were taught by their Kendo teacher.

Still, the guy had always been a narrow minded jerk.

He shook his head while frowning, "don't tell me.. Rayl?"

Sanji had managed to put the key in to the lock, his hands were shaking, and his back was bend forward slightly, but the blonde tried to act as composed as he could. Pretending he was not at all in pain when he obviously was. His voice was the same, a mask of anger and spite hiding his real emotions. Slowly, though, Sanji was starting to realise that Zoro really didn't know anything about what his friend had been up to.

Why would the guy still be here if he had? Why would he have shown up at all? But the need to protect himself was far stronger than the trust he carried for his new friend. There was no solid ground to build that trust up on, so he wondered why it hadn't sunken in to the sand yet?

More calmly the bonde spoke again, "he told me to stay away from you..." Blue eyes looked towards the other teenager, blonde bangs had curled around each other forming thick, wet threads, leaving both of his eyes open to be seen. His hand was still holding the key in to the lock, waiting to open it and throw the door in to the green head's face. But he couldn't yet..

"Couldn't you have told me that yourself?" He asked in a much softer voice, his eyes moving to look at his hand, afraid to show the sadness he was feeling. That familiar feeling of betrayal hitting him hard. "What was it anyway? Did I look at you funny or touch you in a way that spooked you off or something? If it's so, it was nothing since I can't even remember it."

Zoro took a slow breath, he hadn't need to see those eyes to see the sadness illuminating from the other man. And somehow, it was all his fault.. his stomach turned thinking that Rayl did this in his name. So many questions started spinning around in his mind. Had Sanji been scared when Rayl attacked him? Had he fought back? Was Rayl really that much stronger than the blonde?

How could Sanji think he had wanted this to happen to him?

Was Sanji really gay?

And why the fuck was he caring about this so much?

Wouldn't it be easier to just turn his back to the wounded man and leave the other guy's problems out of his own life? He might be roughed up a bit but it wasn't like he was that badly hurt he was going to die or something.

Maybe it was because of Luffy. Yeah! He didn't want to let his childhood friend down by not looking after the new addition of their crew. The straw hat wearing boy chose people carefully, and somehow through that thick brain of his he could always spot the kind of people that had a.. good heart.

He didn't need Luffy to tell him Sanji was a good guy. Neither did he need Luffy to tell him that Sanji didn't deserve the pain he was in. Or that he actually wanted to stay, to help him.

He swallowed again, surprised at the feel of dryness in his throat. "Please.. I think it's really crappy that you believe I had something to do with this. I didn't. So.. get over it."

The blonde quirked an eyebrow at that then shook his head, "I don't know.. Who knows what you got planned-" He got interrupted by a harsh slamming sound and looked up in to dark eyes, reeling with anger. Zoro's fist firm on the wall beside him, telling him he had used up all his patience already.

Minutes past as shocked blue and raging ebony were locked to each other.

Slowly time drifted away, carrying a silent understanding between the two teenagers. No words could clear things up as much as the silence could.

"Want to come inside?"

"I haven't been waiting two hours just to look at that ugly mug of yours."

"Hm, that's so brave. Insulting me in the rare occasion when I don't feel like kicking anyone's ass." Sanji pushed the door open and remembered with a curse that he left his bag with his bike in the bike stall of the apartment as he had rushed to get home.

"Can't I get a rain check? I'd love to see you try." Zoro followed suit, his eyes on the blonde's body that was still bend forward and moving awkwardly.

"Of course, I wouldn't want you to miss out on some good ass kicking."

The green haired man snorted, as he closed the door. "Where are you hurt?"

"Doesn't matter. I'll fix it up," the blonde said, walking towards the kitchen and putting his keys on the counter. The kitchen was always the first place he walked up to, his safe haven. "Want something to drink?"

Zoro shook his head, "where do you keep the towels? Bedroom, right?" He was already walking towards the area where he saw the end of the bed stuck out, crossing the front room and skipped on to the higher floor of the bedroom. It was a small place with a twin bed, one night stand, a book closet and a clothes closet with mirrored doors. The furniture were all made of light ochre, the same as the coffee table in the front room, and there was a soft, white carpet on the floor.

He just stood there for a moment, taking everything in. There was a window too, it showed that the rain still hadn't cleared.

"Oi! Don't just walk in to someone's bedroom!"

The voice coming from the kitchen triggered his movement towards the closet and threw some clothes out of the way in search of a towel.

"And don't make a mess!"

Zoro grinned, as he walked back towards the blonde, that was exactly what he had done. Wasn't that bad though. At least he got a towel.

"Stop bitching, already."

"I'm not bitching, asshole." Sanji reached his hand out, while the other hand rested on his stomach. He had already taken his jacket off, and stood there in a white shirt with some fancy blue print on it, it was dry. Which was the opposite of his dark blue skinny jeans, who were drenched and clinging to his lean figure. "Thanks."

Zoro handed the towel over while taking the sight of dark fabric clinging on to long legs, dipping in at the knees then curving slightly at his thighs up to his hips... The fuck was his mind wondering off too? Zoro frowned angrily at himself, then without much thought crouched down and attempted to push up Sanji's white shirt.

There was the slight touch of tanned skin on a pale stomach before the blonde quickly moved backwards, looking at the green head like he was a crazy person.

"WOOW! _Back off_ moss ball!"

The taller teenager rolled his eyes then sighed, "your stomach's hurt, right? I was just trying to look at it."

"Well, _pllllfft._ I don't need you to look at it, it's fine! I can handle it."

"Right, that's why you're walking like an old dude. Did he hit you or.. kick you or what? That could be dangerous you know."

"Yeah.. kicked. It's fine though, it'll get better in a bit."

"I think you should go see a doctor. You never know, there might be an internal bleeding or something."

"Well, thinking just doesn't suit you, I don't need a doctor. I just need a hot shower and some dry clothes is all." Sanji pouted a bit, it was hard looking so vulnerable, especially in front of the idiot, macho plant. In front of him he wanted to look cool. He wanted to look his best. That way Zoro would look up to him, and see him as an equal. For some reason he really wished for that. So, the least he could do is to act big about it, as if the pain wasn't such a big deal at all. And it really wasn't! He had felt worse than this in the past. He knew it would fade soon. Though Sanji would lie to himself if he said it wasn't a nice feeling to have someone actually worry a little about him.

"Alright, whatever. At least put some ice on your face, it's even more hideous than usual." Zoro managed to say that calmly, while avoiding an ill preformed combat kick.

"SHADDAP, you ugly plant head." If his body had let him he would have so taken Zoro down, his mind was already thinking about various attacks he could have preformed to take the taller man by surprise. "I'm going to take a shower," Sanji moved towards the freezer instead and picked up some cubes he then put in to a plastic bag. It'll probably be smart to cool the bruises on his face before he went in to the shower. He walked towards the door of the bathroom with the little ice pack in his hand. "You can let your self out."

"Hell no. Might as well drink some of your booze." Zoro could almost feel that glare burning a whole in his back before he heard a door slam shut. He grinned, taking a couple of beers before he went to the bedroom again. It'll probably be better if he stayed. You know, in case Sanji would faint or something and really needed a doctor. Man, he was such a good friend. The blonde smart ass cook really owed him for this.

He took his brown jacket off before he laid down on the bed, while thinking what the best way was to beat to crap out of Rayl. The little respect he had for his combat friend had vanished in thin air.

---

The hot water fell heavenly against his naked skin. He had cleaned up the wounds in his face and was relieved to see that his stomach didn't look as bad as he thought it would. The pain was slowly subsiding as he concentrated on the delicious feel of the water.

He hated the way his face looked, so he had avoided the bathroom mirror as much as he could. The bruises only threw the fact that he was such a weak coward in his face. He didn't want to think about how he had practically let Rayl beat the crap out of him. How he suddenly forgot how to defend himself. How the fear and memories had taken him in to such a firm grip.

Maybe.. he'd actually deserved the pain.

Being gay or bi, that was a sin right? He rolled his eyes at himself. He couldn't believe that was true even if he tried to convince himself.

Though he did deserve pain.

For being such a weak mess. If only Zeff was still around. He'd probably beaten Sanji up because he had let himself be beaten up. He grinned thinking about the old fart. That man was probably somewhere on the sea, running the best fucking sea-restaurant ever.

He turned off the water and stepped out of the small shower cabin. Without looking in to the fogged mirror, he dried himself off while his thoughts went in to the direction of something green. He couldn't really understand the other man. He was still a little unsure if he could trust him, but he just did. As if he hasn't got any say in his own feelings. It annoyed him slightly but it was pleasant at the same time. As he thought that he could almost feel that patch of skin on his stomach, where Zoro had touched him, tingle.

Sanji decided to just calm his mind and stop thinking about complex things. He couldn't make much sense of anything with his sleep clouded mind so he might as well put it off till the morning.

He dressed in comfortable blue pyjama slacks and a loose white t-shirt before he stepped out of the bathroom. His curly eyebrow twitched with the sight he was granted. The bathroom was the opposite of his bed, where a green haired bastard was sleeping happily on top of the bed's covers. A couple of empty beer bottles were on his nightstand.

"Fuck. At least have the decency to sleep on the couch." Sanji went up to the bed and sat down, giving Zoro a little push. The other teenager didn't move an inch at the touch. "Fine. Don't think I'm going to sleep anywhere else bastard.. It's my bed." He mumbled as he crawled underneath the blankets on his side. The thought that he probably wasn't going to sleep for a second was silenced by darkness.

---

With something nagging in the back of his mind Zoro woke up without the sense of time or place. Though the gold coloured hair next to him gave him a hint. "What the..?" He moved up resting on his elbows while looking down on Sanji. The blonde was laying on his back, blonde hair framing his face on the pillow. He'd almost look peaceful if his eyebrows weren't drawn together in a half sad, half angry frown, and of course if he didn't have those bruises. He blinked as he suddenly saw his own fingertips brushing against the assaulted skin, feeling the texture and pulse underneath them. He was glad to see that it wasn't as swollen anymore as before.

Zoro slowly removed his hand from the sleeping man's face and lifted his legs out of the bed, his bare feet touching the soft carpet on the floor. He ran his toes against the fabric as he tried to pinch down his own thoughts and actions when he was near the sleeping cook behind him. The conclusion was he couldn't, so he stopped wasting time on it and grabbed his jacket, fishing his cellphone out of it before he dropped it on the floor again.

He laid back on to the bed again, this time covering his legs with the thick blanket while resting his back against the wood of the bed. He spared another glance at the man next to him, wondering if he was in pain but he didn't look like it so he focused on the phone again. He had forgotten that he had turned it off in the afternoon. Actually the thing was usually turned off since he had never really liked the annoying thing anyway.

The missed call message popped up immediately. There were several messages, apparently all from Nami. Probably wasn't too important. The teenager was surprised to see that it was still only half past midnight. He could have sworn it was near morning already.

He quickly dialed a number and waited patiently for someone to pick up. All he got was a voicemail existing out of a cheerful melody sung with insane laughter and forced burps.

"That.. idiot.."

With a heavy sigh he tried another number. This time it did get picked up although he wasn't sure to be happy about it.

_"ZORO!! You bastard, how dare you stand me up!! You just wait till I see you!"_

_"OOOOI, ZORO~!! You bastard!! LEMMETALKTOHIM!"_

_"SHUT UP LUFFY!" _

_"Luffy b-b-be careful! She's too scary~"_

_"Who the hell is scary you long lose?"_

"Oi, Nami, where are you? Was that Usopp?" Why would Usopp be with Nami and Luffy? He hadn't heard that they would meet up.

_"Well, I was waiting, waiting AND WAITING! Luffy spotted me in the living room, practically kidnapped me from my own house in to his garage. Apparently he did the same to Usopp and Vivi. Do you even know how much this new dress I'm wearing has cost me? You should 'cause I'm billing it ON YOU!!!"_

"WHA-! Shit, Nami lower your voice already.." God, hearing that woman yell made him want to yell back even louder but that would mean waking Mr. sleeping beau- moron up next to me.

_"Huh? Why are you whispering anyway?"_

_"Usssoooppp, look LOOK at this!!"_

_"Oi, Luffy that's DISGUSTING! WHAHAHAHA"_

"Sanji's sleeping."

_"..... If Sanji's sleeping.. then why the hell are you still there? First you hate him and now you're having sleepovers?"_

_"WHHAAAT SANJI'S WITH HIM!? ZORO YOU BASTARD!!!" _

"I don't hate- I mean I do.. I No- What the hell is up with Luffy???"

_Nami rolled her eyes, and punched the monkey boy who was trying to take the phone away from her. "He's all upset because he couldn't reach you... Apparently he wanted all of us to be here tonight but nobody knew where Sanji lives and he isn't picking up his phone."_

"Right, I was calling because I wanted to speak with Luffy anyway. Put him on."

_"Ooo~h, so that's why you're calling me, huh? EAT THIS BASTARD."_

_.... Beep Beep Beep Beep ...._

"That bitch!"

---

"UGH, that overgrown, stupid, idiotic, clueless neantherthaler."

"WHAAA, NAMI YOU HANG UP!?!?! WHY!? WHYYYYY???!!"

"Luffy!" Usopp threw his arms around the other boy's shoulders and pulled him slowly back, "step back. This demonic aura admitting from Nami is even too dangerous for the brave captain Usopp to take on. Let's hide while we still can!!"

"Hide and seek? Okaaay~~~"

"Are you okay, Nami?" Vivi spoke up while their other two companions went in hiding. The girl was wearing a purple dress with her long blue hair let down, and black boots that made her even taller than she was.

The red head thought she really had grown up a lot since the last time they were friends. Knowing about the time they spend growing without each other hurt a little but it still had been her own decision. "Yeah, it's just Zoro being an ass.."

"Oh.. are you two dating?"

She blinked, "how do you know?"

"From that phone call I guess? And you got all worked up about it. I didn't know you too were a couple."

"Yeah, we try and keep it quiet. You know we grew up with Luffy, we didn't want him to feel left out or anything."

"But... isn't that what you are doing? Not telling him isn't that kind of leaving him out of an important part of your live?"

"Eh.." Nami sighed softly then smiled. The other girl hadn't changed a bit, her sense for right and wrong were always topnotch. "Y-you're right. It's just.. I don't know, I don't think I'm all that important to Zoro anyway."

Before the other girl had time to respond Nami's phone rang again. She could feel her blood boil as she saw the caller ID. "You have a lot of nerve calling me again! If you want to talk to Luffy then call him!"

_"His phone is turned off. Just give him to me, it's important alright?"_

She frowned, important? "You better not be lying.. And you're paying for the minutes!"

_"Alright! Just get him on the phone."_

"Luffy~~ Zoro wants to talk to you!!"

"Neeee, Usopp hide and seek doesn't work if we both hide! EEHH, ZORO YOU BASTARD!"

The black haired boy catapulted to the side of the garage where the red head stood with the phone and took it angrily. "Oi, zoro you ruined everything!! We were going to tell them today! But we can't do it without Sanji and you have Sanji! Why don't you leave your cellphone on? That's what they are made for you know...."

_"... You.... I don't want to hear that from you, you moron!! Yours isn't on either!"_

"Oh, it isn't..? Khekekehahaa I guess so~~ You sound weird though Zoro.. Why are you hissing like that? Are you in pain or something? Do you need to pee? You're not calling from the bathroom are you? Eww! That's gross!!"

-

"What was he going to tell us? He said he would tell us something if Sanji was here." Vivi asked curiously as Luffy was talking on the phone.

"Yeah, I want to know too. It's not everyday you get kidnapped you know. Not that I was scarred, not at all.. Although wearing those pantyhose on his head was a bit too much.."

"He always does weird stuff like that. What can I say? He lives for the thrill of adventure. I can't tell what he wanted to say though. It's not for me to tell."

"It's something big isn't it?" Usopp asked with his arms crossed, and a serious face. "Aah, there's nothing I can't take though."

"WHAT?"

The three of them were silenced by Luffy's voice and looked in to his direction. They all looked shocked at the sight of the energetic boy's face. Nami had seen the young boy look angry and upset before but it was so rare she was sure she could count the times on one hand. As for Usopp and Vivi they had never seen him like that.

"Where does he live?" Luffy took a piece of paper. The scratches of the pen writting on the paper was the only sound you could hear in the garage. "Don't worry we won't. Okay. Take care of him."

"Luffy? What happened?" The red head asked in a mix of curiosity and worry.

"Someone messed with one of my nakama..."

"Nakama?" Both Vivi and Usopp wondered out loud.

A dangerous grin slowly stretched out on to Luffy's face.

"... We're going to get back at that guy."

* * *

Finally finished this chap! It's like every chapter gets harder to write ;3; It's such a struggle for me to keep the characters somewhat IC... I hope it's alright though...

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it!!

Thank you very much for the reviews that were left last time~~

Leave me some this time too, neee~~~? =3

THANKS FOR READING! =D


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